The Fine Line
by WolvesandFae
Summary: After the end of a disastrous relationship, Chekov can't help noticing that it's him who always gets screwed over. Warning: Mpreg Chekov/Spock, Spock/Uhura, Chekov/OC Pairings are liable to change. Adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned; chapters will be labeled accordingly.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Prologue_

Pavel felt sick. It had only been three weeks since he had arrived back on Earth and already he had had an offer to serve aboard another ship. He wasn't sure if he could do that. He had no intention of letting his career diminish, but the thought of sitting behind a different set of controls, being ordered by anyone other than Spock and Kirk, sitting next to anyone other than Hikaru was, right now, more than he could stand.

The continuous headaches were getting annoying and he had nearly fainted twice since this morning. The nausea was constant, and he supposed that being so depressed recently had lowered his immune system and made him susceptible to a bug going around. Except, infuriatingly, he was often hungry too.

The doctor that entered the room was a woman, a Dr. Edwards. For a moment Pavel felt a little embarrassed as he tried to explain what he thought might be the problem. She smiled at him gently, the first positive gesture he had gotten from anyone in about a month, and he tried not to burst into tears.

She must have noticed, but didn't say anything as she took her seat and looked at the clipboard holding the paper she had been writing on.

"You say you've been fired, recently?" she said, maintaining eye contact.

Pavel nodded, not trusting himself if he opened his mouth.

"And you weren't ready for it, were you?"

He shook his head, biting his lip hard.

"You seem a little overemotional as well. It's understandable given the circumstances, but how would you say your outward emotions have been? Sad? Hysterical? Or are you usually calm?"

To his horror a loud, chocked, sob-like sound emitted from his throat as he tried to answer her. He clapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut as tears ran over his cheeks and fingers.

The doctor smiled gently at him again. "Now that's alright, you're clearly under stress."

Sniffing and he removed his hand to say, "I-I suppose I hawen't really zought about my  
behavior, just how I feel. I-I _hawe_ been a bit hysterical."

"It doesn't sound like a bug, more like nerves, but I'm going to have a proper look at you anyway," she said as she stood. "If you'd just sit yourself up on the bed here and remove your shirt, we'll be done in no time."

The young Russian did as he was requested, wondering why he felt so embarrassed. Even when Dr. McCoy had examined him the young man had been unabashed at removing his shirt, and he had had a crush on the older man once. He wondered if he should suck in his stomach and tense his muscles, but then figured that, as his doctor, Edwards really needed to know _exactly_ what was going on with his physique.

Dr. Edwards was facing her desk, and she turned back to him as pulling on an old fashioned stethoscope with one hand and a scanner held in the other.

"Always preferred using these," she said, tugging on the stethoscope gently. "I don't feel like a real doctor unless I'm wearing one."

Pavel smiled and felt himself relax a bit. He sat up a little straighter.

"Hmm, now these look a little sore." Dr. Edwards gently brushed a thumb against Pasha's right nipple and then looked up at him. "Or are they usually this color?"

He tilted his head down to look at his chest properly. "Zey…Zey do look a bit pinker." He felt himself blush harshly, remembering the dull throb he had had in his left pectoral a few days previously.

Gently, she pressed them both with her thumbs. "Sore?" she asked.

"Ze left is, a little bit. It vas aching the ozer day actually."

The doctor frowned slightly, "Hmm, well let's get down to business." Once done she retrieved the scanner from the table next to the bed. "Please lie down, Mr. Chekov."

Resting his head on the scratchy material of the pillow he allowed the doctor to push his limbs wherever she needed them. As the scanner was waved up and down over his body, he found himself thinking back about five months ago, and the reason he wasn't on the Enterprise today.


	2. Chapter 1

****Author's Note:**** This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 1_

_-Five Months Earlier-_

This situation was way over Pasha's head. This wasn't the first time he was trapped in an alien prison whilst that powers that be, the Enterprise and current planet he was on, bargained over his and someone else's life. It _was_, however, the first time he had been imprisoned with just Commander Spock. The last time he had been in a cell with Spock, Hikaru and Captain Kirk had been with them, which had helped ensure morale more than anything else. In this instance, it was just the young Russian and the Vulcan plotting together, using mathematical genius to break free as soon as possible.

Or at least, they should have been. It was how Pavel always thought they would handle the situation if the two of them ever ended up in like they were now.

Now, Pasha would readily admit that he knew very little about Vulcans. So he was pretty certain that a Vulcan openly and obviously showing anger was a very bad sign. He was sure that what was bothering the Vulcan was what Pavel himself thought to be the biggest problem at the time, which was the unlikelihood that the Captain knew their whereabouts. The commanding officer was, for lack of a better word, scowling. He growled every time footsteps were heard up ahead, and when he wasn't plastered to the door keeping a look out he was prowling around Pasha in a distracted manner.

"Commander, it's okay. Ze keptin vill try to contact one of us soon enough and zen he'll know somezing is vrong," Pasha said, trying to calm the hybrid.

"It is early," replied Spock, sounding mildly surprised.

Now that confused the smaller male. Did Spock mean "early" as in the morning? Then he nearly slapped himself and realizing that Spock meant it was still too early for someone to notice they had gone missing. Wait though; it had been two days since they were imprisoned.

What happened next was, well, unexpected to say the least.

Spock swooped down on him, grabbing around his chest and lifting him with a terrifying ease. Then the Vulcan was carrying him towards the pile of material in the corner.

"Commander! Vhat-"

"It is early," Spock repeated, almost fearfully now, "and I cannot fight it. I am sorry, Ensign."

Spock dropped Pasha onto the makeshift bed and then laid on top of him. The small male was taken aback by the sudden weight and strength on top of him. This was scary, what was Spock doing?"

Fortunately for Pasha, Spock had enough control over himself to get the two of them through whatever was wrong with him as smoothly as possible. He spent ages smothering Pasha with kisses and nuzzles, reassuring him with a few choice sentences in Russian.

The bonding process had been rather alarming; having another presence suddenly appear within his mind was something that could cause panic. Their bodies, however, experienced a little more difficulty.

Spock had spent a long time preparing and arousing Pasha, but there was still pain nonetheless. Pasha was a lot smaller than Spock and the Vulcan's strength had taken its toll on his body. It had been alright as Spock had, after what the Russian realized was a mind meld, known exactly what was on his mate's mind. He devoted as much time as he could to making things pleasurable for his mate. But still, it was overwhelming and not lacking in pain.

When the fever was over, it was Spock's turn to be overwhelmed by alien sensations within his mind. Pasha's emotions flitted about constantly and the Vulcan's attempts to become stoic and emotionless once more failed as his instincts told him his mate was sick. It hadn't just been the mind either, the size and weight of the human had made Spock incredibly overprotective.

After a while Pasha managed to calm down and he spent some time curiously examining Spock's presence in his mind. They helped each other to dress, Pasha pretty much collapsing once finished.

When they had been released soon after the ordeal, which Pasha found out lasted almost an entire week, and beamed back to the ship. There Doctor McCoy grabbed both of them and took them to sickbay.

"Your father made an emergency call requesting to speak with you," said McCoy to Spock as he examined Pasha first. "He knows where you were, and he's on his way. Talked to me about things first though. Apparently this has been occurring all over the New Vulcan colonies."

Spock by this point was back to his practical self, but there was something clipped and cold in his voice, "Of course, the destruction of Vulcan would increase the need to survive."

McCoy nodded. "It took a while for me to get what was happening out of your father-"

"We do not speak of it," Spock interrupted smoothly.

* * *

Spock never told Pasha where his relationship with Lt. Uhura had been before Spock and Pasha bonded. Things had been very quiet with regards to the whole affair, even after the two had shown affection during the Narada incident. Spock's mental shields blocked his own thoughts from Pasha's, as well as the young man's thoughts and emotions from the Vulcan, so Pasha was never even aware either of them talking to each other. He gently tried to initiate casual conversation with Uhura, as he would have done before the awkward circumstances came about, but she would often just nod while avoiding his eyes before moving away elsewhere.

Spock would occasionally share conversation with him, but not about Uhura and _not_ about Pon Farr, which McCoy had told him about since he needed to know for his own health. For Pasha, he would have happily respected whatever the Vulcan wished, if it hadn't been for the lack of conversation. He felt as though he had disappointed the Vulcan somehow. He was afraid to simply suggest they get some sort of divorce from the bond without insulting Spock. Yet a divorce sounded right as it was obvious neither of them were happy.

* * *

"He is very young and small." Was the first thing Sarek said when he saw Pasha.

"Ensign Chekov is amongst the most advanced members of the crew."

Pasha would have felt pleased that Spock was, in a way, defending him from his father, but he hadn't been able to miss the detached way Spock spoke about him. It was as though he wasn't right in front of them. He had gotten relatively good at picking up the nuances of his Vulcan husband. Within five minutes of conversation Pasha sadly realized that Spock was actually defending himself.

"I would have waited for a Vulcan female given the choice."

"The bond?"

"Indeed. Emotionally, he is not fully adept."

Pasha felt a stab of annoyance. He was dealing with the bond itself just fine. Dealing with the _how_ it was created was not the same thing, but he kept quiet knowing that his interruption would not be appreciated. He decided to imitate the Vulcans and kept his face completely neutral. If there was one thing he was good at it was learning and adapting.

Sarek then decided to ignore Pasha completely, turning to Spock and began to walking away with him. "He is an inadequate mate for you. He will not be sufficient to help with the survival of the Vulcan race."

From where he was standing Pasha could still make out Spock's ears turning slightly green at the tips and though he was quiet, his voice traveled the distance back to the Russian left behind. "Irrelevant, the event was unanticipated. However, his suitability is as you have indicated. I chose under duress, and he will not be presented to New Vulcan. I have contemplated breaking the bond."

Suddenly Pasha was thankful that Spock had his mental shields up. It hurt more than he would like to admit that not only was Spock making plans for him behind his back, but he was actually ashamed of him.


	3. Chapter 2

******Author's Note:****** This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

A few things before the story begins.

First, I've seen SOPA notices being posted by other authors. Normally I would be fine with this, but when they post it as a chapter to a story I get frustrated. About three of my favorite stories that haven't updated in a long time did, only for me to find out it was a notice about SOPA. Honestly, I don't think anything is going to happen with it. I also put a disclaimer in every chapter so I'm not claiming ownership. Anyway, yeah, not a fan of SOPA chapter updates.

Second, I will not be near a computer next weekend. Have no fear though. I will update both of my stories on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 and still give a regular update on the weekend.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 2_

Over the next four months, Spock often visited Pasha's quarters for sex, which was perhaps the best thing about the whole sorry affair. At first, Pasha was grateful for Spock's mental shields, but now it hurt to think that the one on the other end of the bond was trying to connect with him as little as possible. Even if that small bit of contact included having a lot of sex. The sex became easier, much to the small Russian's relief, and on many occasions he tried to engage Spock in conversation afterwards. Usually, Spock left as quickly as possible, but sometimes he would stay and occasionally glance at Pasha with warmth in his dark eyes.

Pasha's immediate understanding of the situation was that bonds with Vulcans were not easily broken, or it was considered shameful to break. He discovered later that he was the only human male to share a bond with a Vulcan. Before him there were only about three human women bonded to Volcans, one of which being Spock's mother.

There was no way the young Russian could deny his attraction to the Commander, but he certainly hadn't imagined anything happening between them, much less marriage. He decided to allow Spock space since the nature of Pon Farr, from what Pasha had seen, was very violent. The man didn't necessarily want to discuss things with Pasha as a human might have so he had no clue other than the little clues that he had managed to recognize. The mysterious bond would be broken one day and it was probably for the best. The attachment he felt to Spock and the excitement he felt when they were in bed together couldn't be ignored, but he was sure that this wasn't love. He was been perfectly willing to allow feelings to develop if his husband wanted to make their relationship work, but he reasoned that if Spock had yet to talk about it with him then it wasn't wise to dwell on things the Vulcan deemed irrelevant.

Just when things were calming down, everything fell to pieces in a spectacular way.

Another Vulcan, a diplomat of some kind, came aboard the Enterprise for two weeks. His presence seemed to be unwelcomed; at least Spock's body language said that. The Commander clearly knew the other, but was obviously noton friendly terms with the other Vulcan. The diplomat came aboard for safe transportation to New Vulcan from Earth before the Enterprise was needed back on route again.

Pasha hardly saw the new visitor during his brief stay. Although, the tall male Vulcan clearly said some unsavory things about him as Spock became more agitated if the other Vulcan was around his small mate. Upon being introduced, the diplomat said something in Vulcan that caused Lt. Uhura to stiffen and anger flared up from Spock's side of the bond so powerfully it reached his mate through the shields. From that moment on Spock became more aggressive during sex, less talkative, more irritable, and expressly ordered Pasha not to approach the other Vulcan under any circumstances. Not knowing what had been said about him, but feeling uneasy with the sudden change in his bondmate's behavior, the eighteen year old did as he was told hoping it would ease the Commander's ire.

Then, the Vulcan diplomat left and that should have been the end of it.

Pasha could feel bruises forming on his arms where Spock grasped him and hissed in his ear, "What have you done?"

"V-vhat?"

"The bond, what have you done, you little deceiver?"

Pasha let out a little cry and dug his nails into Spock's hands to try getting the Vulcan to loosen his grip, "Vhat are you talking about? I hawen't done anyzing!"

"Do not lie! The presence of another contaminates the bond!" Spock paused and then snarled at him, "How many times did he have you before his presence manifested?"

"Vhat? Vho? I hawen't-"

Then Spock started to shake him, clearly restraining himself from doing more. "The Vulcan diplomat, the one you betrayed me with!"

"S-Spock! I hawen't done anyzing! I hawen't!" Pasha cried, tears made from fear rolling down his cheeks.

"I should have known you would seek other company! You were never going to be an acceptable mate for any Vulcan! A tainted bond is unacceptable!"

Painful was a word too physical to describe the feeling of a bond being broken. Spock had refused to properly meld and disconnect the bond gently; he didn't want to see any marks that would show the presence of another in his former-mate's mind. It didn't hurt, but Pasha wasn't ready for what came next. A dreadfully empty, lonely feeling consumed his now bondless mind. Pasha had collapsed to the floor, sobbing. And no one picked him up again.

* * *

Pasha had been sick after the first person said, "I think you should leave." That person was Uhura.

Fortunately when she said it there was a bathroom within running distance. It could easily be attributed to the fact that he himself had been thinking about leaving, but to hear that Spock wasn't the only one that wanted it was unbearable.

The tension began to rise and became dreadful. Kirk looked at him with intense disappointment all the time, Uhura snapped at him constantly, and Spock seemed to pretend he didn't even exist. Scotty didn't understand the extent of the damage, and just clapped his hand on Pasha's back telling him everything would blow over soon. Hikaru hadn't said anything, except, "I told you it wouldn't work." That had hurt so much more than he thought it would have; hadn't Hikaru been his friend?

Pasha spent his shifts trying desperately to show how professional he was. He didn't try discussing his private life since he would have been instantly reprimanded. He could feel the stares all the time and constantly straightened himself up, sucking in his stomach that was definitely getting a little noticeable as if he was gaining weight. He had always had a flat stomach so of course he noticed the change rather quickly.

Uhura addressed his weight two weeks before he was sent away. "Just look at the state of you." She gestured to his stomach, which, to be fair was actually the only part of him to have expanded. "You need to go home and sort yourself out. Do you know what that is? That's from guilt-eating and stress, Ensign." She had stopped using his name weeks earlier.

Kirk had taken him aside to fire him. Well, the Captain obviously thought he was gently "encouraging" Pasha to leave. "I really think it's for the best," he sighed. "It's not that you're a bad worker, but now your performance on the bridge has started to get worse. You're stressed, shaking, and with the current state of your relationships on board, I think this would be best for you. You're clearly unhappy."

"I am unhappy because I vas accused of somezing I didn't do, Keptin," Pasha said weakly. He tried to get the next reason for his misery out, "An-and Spock-"

"Now Chekov, I'm sure you didn't mean any harm. But what's done is done. I won't force you to go, but I think it's the right thing for you. You're still young, and when—if you join another ship, I know it won't be long before you're promoted."

Now, Pasha probably would have left whether Kirk had spoken to him or not. The tension onboard was getting worse and without the protection of his once friends, some of the other crew members started ridiculing him just like they had back at the Academy. The security team would mock his accent and ignore his questions and orders. One of them even started pinching him on the backside and wolf whistling at him, asking when he was going to be eighteen; the big joke being that Pasha was already of age.

Of his friends, or perhaps former friends, who weren't outright angry with him, started to treat Pasha with a constant air of resignation and irritation.

* * *

A smaller ship came along a week later and took him back to Earth. Gazing numbly out a small window into deep space, a blank screened and silent PADD in hand, Pasha knew it would stay that way for there would be no messages for him.

Back on Earth he got a message. From New Vulcan. A wizened member of the Council whom Pasha vaguely recognized informed him that because of the shameful nature of his broken bond, neither he nor any of his family members would ever be welcome to New Vulcan. Pasha initially wondered how a Vulcan in his position would be treated. Then he found out why it was so bad for him. Turns out Spock had gotten a lawyer to order that Pasha be kept away from him at all times. Best way to do this was apparently keeping him off the Enterprise and New Vulcan.

His remaining family had no interest in seeing him. He was banished from New Vulcan and the Enterprise, with no friends to speak of. His ex-husband apparently just issued the Vulcan equivalent of a restraining order against him.

For the first time in years he had no idea what his future was going to be like; he felt lost and very scared.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

Here is the promised chapter that was postponed from Sunday, March 23, 2014. Thank you for being patient with me!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 3_

-Present Time-

Pasha was almost beside himself with emotional pain. He thought about all that he had lost in so little time and came to the realization that his grief was more from what had been revealed during the entire ordeal. His co-workers had never seen him as a real friend or colleague; he was just a little boy that was good at mathematics. None of them had ever taken him seriously.

Spock had never liked the small Russian, nor had he ever really been attracted to him. Pasha had been the only one around during Pon Farr and once the bond was formed it was only logical to indulge. Kirk, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty and McCoy probably had nothing but disdain for him now, but Spock hatedhim something fierce. He had felt it just before their bond disappeared and left him with this empty gap in his soul that he could still feel now.

As Pasha lay on the biobed, the scanner moving back and forth over him, he thought about how very stupid the whole situation was. At some point, Spock would have contact with that other Vulcan and surely he would ask about the interference with his ex-bondmate. Maybe when the Vulcan learned the truth he would retract all of his accusations and allow Pasha his freedom and dignity once more. The former Enterprise crewmember wasn't sure if he would ever be able to work for Starfleet again. There would always be another ship waiting for him somewhere, but all of the ones he had any interest in working on were due to land on New Vulcan at some point, the very planet he wasn't allowed to go near. That would make finding work interesting since as no ships would want a navigator who wasn't welcome to that planet.

Pasha heard a tisk from the foot of the bed. His gaze and mind traveled back to the doctor just in time to see her reprogramming the scanner and sweeping it over him once more, specifically his midriff.

"Vhat is it, Doctor? Am I wery sick?"

Dr. Edwards shook her head as she reread the results. She glanced back at him, "You don't have an illness, Mr. Chekov. But I need to know, have you engaged in sexual relations with an individual from a nonhuman race within the last few months?"

Pasha's eyes widened. "Yes, viz a Wulcan." What else had that bastard done to him?

Edwards expression was blank. "Male?"

"Da."

She closed her eyes before saying, "I don't know much about Vulcan physiology and mating rituals since they like to keep things quiet, so we're going to need to consult with someone who does."

"But vhat is vrong viz me, Doctor?" queried Pasha again, as the woman turned away from him to type something on the medical issued PADD she had entered with.

After a few seconds of silence, she finished typing and turned to look him in the eye. "I've never seen this between a male Vulcan and a male human before, but there's no denying that the scanner is telling me. Mr. Chekov, you're about three months pregnant."

"Vhat?" Pasha asked, frowning. He was certain his English was failing him; she couldn't possibly have said what he thought she did.

"You're pregnant. Now lie back against the pillows and we'll try and get to the bottom of this. Try to keep as calm as possible, I know this is a shock to you."

"I'm hawing a baby?" He waited, but she didn't respond. "Doctor, I am a man."

She smiled grimly at him, "That you are and you're with child."

The trained navigator's heart began to race. This was ridiculous; impossible; the whole thing was just a prank surely. "But... I am... It must be an error."

"I've scanned you with two different scanners on three different settings, Pavel," she used his first name a little tentatively, "obviously I'll run more tests, but I'm very certain this isn't an error."

Pasha shook his head, unable to respond and unwilling to believe.

"You're not the first male human to be impregnated by a nonhuman race, but I confess I had no idea the Vulcan's could reproduce like this," Dr. Edwards said, rather stonily.

Another doctor and a nurse came in. Dr. Jackson was evidently half-human, but Pasha was too shocked at the latest development in his life to figure out the non-human side of her heritage. She was blue-skinned and that was all he could register as she introduced herself. He barely registered the nurse bustling around for the two doctors.

They spent another hour scanning the stunned male; asking him questions and taking a few blood samples. Once they were done he was taken to a large meeting room where they sat him down with a glass of water.

"Mr. Chekov," said Dr. Edwards, as Dr. Jackson sat down opposite him, "your pregnancy is... quite extraordinary news. We cannot be absolutely certain as to how it's happened, as Vulcan's are an intensely private race, particularly regarding mating, reproduction, and sexuality. You are in shock, we know, but we will need to discuss your options at a later date."

Pasha gazed at her, dumbly.

Dr. Jackson offered him a small smile. "We want you to return home and rest, Mr. Chekov. Although you'll need time to make a decision, please refrain from ingesting any stimulants, so no caffeine or alcohol. We're going to schedule you another meeting here in two days. Hopefully we will have more answers, and we'd like you to bring in your PADD, please. This situation is definitely going to reach legal matters... quite a few, I should think."

With a nod the shell shocked young man left the hospital and trudged home, thoughts of all the positives and negatives of being pregnant with Spock's child swirling around in his head. Once he reached his apartment he locked himself inside the bedroom and lay there staring at the ceiling that was blurred from new tears.


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 4_

During those two days Pasha didn't leave his apartment, but he wasn't relaxing either. On one hand, his mind was telling him over and over again that he had gone crazy and that any minute now someone would take him away in a straight jacket. On the other hand, fuelled by reminders for his meeting ringing on his PADD every few minutes, he felt like laughing hysterically at how typical it all seemed; that this just had to happen to him.

He was still living in his Starfleet Earth-based quarters which consisted of a simple single bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a small bathroom meant for one person only. All of his posters and clothes were where he left them when he boarded the Enterprise, but now they look oddly childish to him. He stuck to the orders from the doctors; no caffeine or alcohol, although he severely doubted he would be able to keep either down.

When Pasha returned to the hospital, twelve other people were in the conference room this time. Some were doctors, others psychologists, two were lawyers, and finally a couple of scientists. Pasha was asked to recount his relationship with Commander Spock, including the Pon Farr situation and the 'break up'. The legality of Spock's restraining order was all there on his PADD, which the lawyers spent most of the meeting examining, checking that it matched with their own research.

Dr. Jackson stepped up and began to explain how the fetus had been conceived, Pasha only catching small pieces of information throughout the entire confusing conversation.

"...We managed to get these files from the records of two human women who have birthed Vulcan hybrids... we've discovered that Vulcan semen contains a hormone that manages to enter the bloodstream after sex... you were often engaging in sexual intercourse, so the hormones were entering your body regularly for a good two months, until eventually a kind of temporary womb formed, and the fetus was conceived..."

Along with this there were two huge holographic diagrams to help explain where Pasha's DNA came into play. He was smart enough to understand that, he was the youngest graduate from Starfleet after all, but all his questions weren't answered. Biology had never been his favorite scientific area.

"...The sudden lack of hormones in the past few weeks has probably contributed to your nausea," said Dr. Jackson, still very kind over her businesslike tone, "Were you a Vulcan male, around the time of the birth a patch of skin around your belly would become very soft, and it would be easy to perform a caesarean without much risk. I couldn't say if the same thing would happen for you, but that would be one of the primary functions of the hormone post-conception."

Pasha shook his head, speaking for the first time in a while, "But vhat is ze point of it? If Wulcan's, like human's, hawe males and females I don't understand vhere on ze ewolutionary scale zis could possibly hawe been needed."

An older man with a thin beard spoke up, "The problem is, you are thinking of 'male and female' in human terms. It's true that Vulcan sex is similar enough to human sex, but the best way to explain this is to assume that Vulcan males are technically hermaphrodites. It may be that this impregnating ability evolved properly after Pon Farr became the primary mating time. Vulcan's, as you know, can mate outside of Pon Farr, but many choose not to believing sex to be an abandonment of their logical beliefs. In fact, many Vulcan's strive to maintain the belief that they feel nothing at all."

Pasha nodded as the man sipped his water before continuing, "So obviously, the need to survive would have increased tenfold when many Vulcan infants were being born at once every seven years, and of course, with Pon Farr, there's no guarantee conception will take place. However, this development must be older than that, if the hormone is strong enough to function the same way in a human bloodstream and body."

Pasha rubbed his aching temple, "So…I zink I understand zis nov, but vhat am I supposed to do? Is the fetus ewen going to surwiwe?"

"At the moment, it looks as though it will," said the man. "We're not going to lie to you; it's going to be a very trying ordeal."

"That is, of course, if you actually _want_ to go through with it, Mr. Chekov," Dr. Edwards cut in, frowning slightly at the man who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "If you were to go ahead with it, we would supply you with the hormone via pills, or injections if you couldn't keep them down. The whole process would be similar to that of a human female taking prenatal care to ensure the best survival rate for her unborn child."

"So... I don't hawe to keep it if I don't vant to?" Pasha said slowly.

Dr. Jackson smiled sadly at him, "Absolutely not. This is _your_ body, Mr. Chekov, and you have rights here. Usually, the Vulcan High Council would be making decisions as to your position and would probably persuade you to marry the other father, another Vulcan, or give the child up and it would be raised there."

Pasha's eyes widened. "You mean ze Wolcan Council has no say in zis? In vat I do?"

One of the lawyers, Mr. West, spoke up, "Correct, Mr. Chekov. That restraining order your ex-husband took out against you? It means that any and all of your messages, lawsuits, even SOS's get sent to the very end of the long line of information sent to them from Earth. As such, they can't limit your movements here. You don't have to wait for them to process your messages. If the child was carried to term, it _would_ be your immediate family and neither you nor any member of your immediate family is allowed on New Vulcan. There's no legal bond binding you to the other father. To sum it all up, Commander Spock has thrown away all legal rights over you or the potential half-Vulcan, at least off of New Vulcan."

"Quarter," Pasha, Dr. Edwards, and Dr. Jackson said at once, smiling weakly at each other.

"So," Pasha began, keeping his voice slow so he could sound a little more clear with his imperfect English, "alzough ze message may not reach them for a while, or ever, hawe the Wolcan Council been informed of my situation?"

The room was silent, save for an awkward cough from the other lawyer.

"Not yet," Mr. West finally said. "Not until the decision is made on whether you're going to attempt to carry the child."


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

Alright, I got an interesting review the other day from macberly. They pointed out that a lot of things don't seem right in this story and as I'm not the original writer I'm going to try and explain what I think was going on, but you are free to disagree with me.

For starters, Spock technically did rape and force Chekov into a bond. For those that don't know, Pon Farr is a the mating ritual that Vulcans go through every seven years where the Vulcans go into a "blood fever" that compels them to forsake all forms of logic and become basically primal while trying to conceive an offspring and bond with their partner for seven or they die. Thus Pon Farr is a life or death situation for a Vulcan. Spock may have had a bond with someone before Chekov, but they probably died when Vulcan was destroyed thus leaving him with nothing. The shock of losing a home planet and many of their race would have caused an early Pon Farr for the Vulcans and as Chekov and Spock were trapped together there was really no avoiding it. As neither Spock nor Chekov were in their right minds during Pon Farr and it was a life or death situation for Spock, the court system would have most likely thrown any rape case out. It's like someone is threatening a person with death if they don't have sex with someone else whether that third person is willing or not. The second person isn't responsible as they were trying to not die.

There is also a lot of characters acting out of character for them. Remember, this is the universe created from the Star Trek 2009 movie and its sequel. Kirk is a lot different from the original version, heck all of the characters are. Kirk probably doesn't know the crew that well on a personal level and thinks Chekov did the same things he did, which was cheat (though not much, but lets face it, Kirk probably cheated on a few people at some point). Uhura is Spock's previous lover in this story, so of course she'd be jealous and cruel to Chekov as she cares more about Spock than him. Sulu and Scotty are probably unaware of how bad the situation got and reacted in the ways they thought were best. Bones most likely tried to help, he certainly wasn't cruel to Chekov, but there is only so much he can do with both Kirk and Spock probably blocking his efforts either unintentionally or intentionally. As for Spock, well his planet blew up, he watched Kirk die, and he suffered through Pon Farr before he thought he needed to. Lets face it, Spock is proud and would not have sought out psychological help that he obviously needed. Chekov also was shell shocked from the bond and everything that was happening so he probably didn't see a psychologist either when he really needed to.

Also age, rank, and racial (like Human vs. Vulcan) discrimination are probably at play here, but then again you can find that in the real world without even trying and no matter what those actions are wrong.

As for Chekov's career in this story, the restraining order (made by Spock) says he can't go near Spock or New Vulcan. He could go to work on ships that never go near there and still be a navigator, but he wants the big named ships like any other officer. But with most of the fleet destroyed, all ships are going to go to New Vulcan. Eventually there will be rebuilt ships for him to go on, but for right now he can't work on any. His career isn't destroyed, just postponed until new ships are made.

It was also pointed out that Chekov is still very much a child at 18. While the maternal part of me agrees with this, the logical side of me remembers that in most countries 18 is the legal age to drive, vote, drink, and be charged as an adult in the eyes of the court system. The age of 18 is legal adulthood, even if in the U.S. you still can't drink until you're 21. On top of that, Chekov had to give up his minority status to be a navigator for Starfleet. So though he is young, Chekov is in no way a minor in the eyes of the law and society and thus will not be treated as a child.

Both macberly and I had fun play devil's advocate to each other and I like how a lot of these things got pointed out. When I'm done correcting and reposting the original writer's work I'll see what I can do to possibly work these explanations into the story and not have it sound like a bunch of things just thrown together.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 5_

Exhaling wearily, Pasha glanced around for the first time since he entering the room, making eye contact with each person.

"If you choose to go through with the pregnancy, Mr. Chekov," said Mr. West after a few moments of silence, "you would be offered money, of course. And everything would be confidential; you are well within your rights to ensure that the medical records for the research and any published findings would have you down as an anonymous patient. If you choose not to go through with it, you have the same rights to your privacy and your anonymous coverage would remain."

After a little while Pasha cleared his throat, "I suppose zis, vell, zis is something important to science?"

A different scientists from the earlier one spoke up, "Yes, very much so. When the Vulcan's finally find out about you, they may be interested too as, of course, their population is down."

Pasha sighed, obviously if he could assist New Vulcan in any way he usually would have been very willing to do so. Yet the unpleasant thought of his child being forced to marry into Vulcan society was almost too much to bear. Although, it was worth wondering whether the Vulcan's would even want anything to do with him or his child. Especially since the "scandal" and the fact that the baby would be quarter-Vulcan.

He frowned, "Alzough Nev Wulcan might not hear about me for a while, do you zink Spock could find any vay of filing a lav suit against me if I do not attempt to contact him about zis?"

"It's highly doubtful that he could," said Mr. West. "You were on Earth when you discovered the pregnancy, and that was _after_ he got the restraining order. To play it safe I advise you don't go anonymous within the actual medical files that would be kept with the hospital records. The files will have to be sent to Vulcan, but as previously stated it is Commander Spock's fault if they take a while to be processed. This may also be the case if you contact the Enterprise. That contact would also have to be an emergency otherwise you would be directly violating your restraining order. If at any point Commander Spock discovers the pregnancy and claims you were withholding important information, this meeting has been documented as evidence that you had not have known the possibility of conception with him. That is another of his errors for judging you wrongly."

Pasha frowned, "Vhat do you mean?"

Dr. Jackson spoke up, "The Vulcan bond, Mr. Chekov. The presence of the fetus' was the 'contamination' Commander Spock thought was in the bond. The presence is unusually strong for an early stage of pregnancy, but that's probably because of the mixed heritage."

Pasha closed his eyes and chuckled slightly. All of this had happened because of a fetus that had been created within him. A fetus that Spock may have accepted and thus accepted its "mother." Shaking his head the pregnant young man corrected himself. No, Spock never liked him and he probably wouldn't like the idea of a child even less Vulcan than himself.

"Perhaps you should try to notify Commander Spock," said one of the psychologists. "After all, it was only in his nature to question your loyalty—"

"Of course it is not his fault for doubting my _loyalty_," snapped Pasha causing the man to reel back in shook while Dr. Edwards glared at him. "But I had ze right to defend myself and he should hawe listened. I had ze right to demand a proper inwestigation and nov it is too late. If he vants to knov about ze child, he vill hawe to gone to me. It is not my problem."

"You could get money out of him if you wanted," Mr. West quietly suggested.

"I zink I already hawe enough belonging to him," said Pasha, coolly.

He turned to the two doctors that had diagnosed him. "Please be honest vith me. Hov dangerous is zis going to be?"

Dr. Jackson nodded in a grim manner. "It could eventually be life-threatening. However, you will be first priority when the time for birth comes."

Pasha gulped and leaned back in his seat. He knew that he had to be practical about the whole thing. He was male and therefore obviously not built for pregnancy. It would be painful and it could end in disaster. Yet there was the chance that everything could turn out fine. The glorious, beautiful, wild possibility of having a child of his own came into his mind. A child that he could cuddle, kiss, and tell stories to day and night. A little bundle of joy that he would give the best of everything to, at least from what he could give. A child that would love him in return as much as he loved them, and they could became a little family. Pasha shook himself from those dangerous thoughts. He had vowed to not think of the unborn baby as an actual child. If there was a chance it didn't make it, he didn't want any more heartbreak in his already miserable life.

On the other hand, he had no close relatives, well, not ones he spoke to anyway. If he and the baby didn't make it, no one around them would get hurt. Then he wondered, if it would be selfish to keep the baby if there was a chance just _he_ would die? To leave a child, much less one that was only quarter-Vulcan, alone in the world with no family to care for it? His whole theory of having no one close being affected by his death was all well and good, but it would be blown out of the water if the baby survived and he didn't.

Spock had treated him terribly, but Pasha knew he would do the right thing for the child. He knew from his own experiences where the child would be happiest and safest, if the both of them survived, but Pasha just couldn't foresee such an event yet.

There was no right or wrong answer here. Whatever decision he made, it would be both selfish and selfless. The only way to try and ensure the best possible outcome was to be sensible about the options available then come to his decision. If there was a sudden and immediate danger to his life, the pregnancy would be terminated just as it would be for a woman. He was going to have to pay attention to every single one of his doctor's instructions.

He felt a pang in his chest as he automatically thought of Dr. McCoy, somewhere out there in space, with permanent scowl on his face while examining some terrified patient. Pasha missed the Enterprise so very much. Even if the entire crew had been ignorant bastards, their intentions hadn't been cruel. They really didn't know all of the facts of the situation, that and Pasha would always be some stupid kid to them.

There was probably never going to be any forgiving or forgetting, because the Russian could now see that there had never really been any true friendship between them at all. Perhaps if he had been able to stay longer, with none of this having happened of course, he could have formed a close emotional bond with one or more of them, like the one Kirk and Spock shared. Oh, how Pasha longed for a friendship like that of the one those two men shared.

Now that he knew how everyone saw him, he understood everyone's initial reactions to the bonding, or at least he supposed he did. However, he had the right to defend himself. Everyone's behavior towards him was uncalled for; all of the disappointed stares, reprimanding tones, and the cold voice from Uhura as though he were the trouble student in a school where everyone had given up on him. Sometimes he found himself wondering whether his former friends actually knew what had happened, or at least what Spock thought had happened.

_"You little deceiver."_

Pasha closed his eyes.

There was a rather uncomfortable suspicion that he occasionally had, but it was much too farfetched in terms of logic and Spock's morality. Sometimes, Pasha couldn't help pondering the possibility that perhaps Spock had set him up. Perhaps there had been no such "contamination of the bond," or a change to it that Spock could see. That for whatever reason, breaking the bond over an apparent affair would be easier for the Vulcan. Would Spock really have sensed a difference? It had been so early in the pregnancy, after all. Pasha honestly couldn't remember how he had felt that day. All of his awareness of that week had been poured into the terrible, dark void left where Spock's presence had once been.

It sounded ridiculous, even in his mind. His own guilt of failing to save Spock's mother still lingered though. The Vulcan had never mentioned the incident, and Pasha had often found the apology stuck in his throat when he had tried to voice it. Spock didn't seem the type to hold a grudge, but if he had been doing so it would explain the secrecy he had maintained throughout their bond and why it had been so easy for him to pull a stunt like the one Pasha sometimes privately suspected.

The irritating psychologist spoke up again, "Obviously you may feel restrained by the encouragement to be honorable with your decision, but we will be there to advise you, should you need it."

He smiled, "I don't zink I vould like to be an honorable person right nov. Not to him, anyvay. I will go zrough vith zis pregnancy." The room filled sighs of either relief or worry. "It may ansver many questions and vill keep me interested vhile I am unemployed." He smiled sourly as he stood.

Several of the doctors and scientist stood too and began move around to line up to shake hands with him.

A young man in a white coat smiled at him warmly, his arm extended; "Well then, Mr. Chekov, we'll be working very closely with you. May I call you by your first name?"

Pasha hesitated. It was rather strange to have people treating him like an adult, even beneath the usual patronizing tones most doctors had.

He shook the man's hand firmly; "Call me Pawel."


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

Chapter 6

After deciding to keep the child, Pavel edited his will a few weeks after the meeting. The original documents had been mandatory for members of Starflleet, it was an extremely dangerous occupation after all. It had taken a lot of thought, but he finally came up with something that he believed offered the best out of a worst case scenario. The will didn't have to be changed right away, but it was still extremely difficult to sit and think about the future for ages where he could talk himself out of his decision. Never before had he gone back on a choice and he wasn't about to start now. Trying to be methodical, he kept in mind that he was deciding the fate of another person in the event of his death who would be shaped by their upbringing just as his had shaped him.

Now the young man's will stated that in the event of his death, should the child survive, they would inherit all of his saved money at the age of eighteen. Should the child be healthy upon birth and have no complications during the pregnancy, birth, or immediate life after birth, either mental or physical, they would be adopted by a willing family that lived on Earth. If it seemed that the child would struggle medically because of its mixed heritage, then Starfleet doctors would need to care for them regardless of their adoption status. However, if Spock showed an interest in his child, none of these events would be necessary. Pavel had decided that no matter the physical, mental, and or emotional state of the child, Spock should be contacted in the event on his death. The half Vulcan may have been horrible to him, but he _was_ the child's other parent and had a right to a chance at raising it if Pavel himself couldn't do it. The message would be sent as high priority to the Commander who would not and could not ignore it since there was no way Pavel could have sent it if it was about his death. It would most likely be the lawyer he had with him, Mr. West, who would send the message and enact his will for him.

If both Pavel and the child perished some of the money would go to his mother, if she wanted it, and the rest of it would be split between Starfleet and the charities he donated to. If that happened Spock would not be contacted, but several of Pavel's doctors would talk to the Vulcan High Council about the risk of human male pregnancy by a Vulcan sire and their rights. Pavel would be their evidence even though he would be listed as an anonymous patient, but the Vulcan's would probably figure it out on their own. Granted, the doctors would be doing that part no matter if he lived or not, it would just be a better argument if he died which would show the dangers, but he guessed they could stress the risks of what could have happened if he survive since the Counsel never shared anything so they were all going into the pregnancy blind.

Then there was the most complicated possibility of Pavel _and_ the child surviving.

Children couldn't be brought up in space, not for the long term anyway. It was dangerous, isolating, and impractical for everyone involved. If they both survived the pregnancy and birth, he didn't want to leave the child behind on Earth, and he if he was honest with himself he couldn't do that even if he tried. Even if Pavel had a willing volunteer to raise the child planet-side, the baby's needs would probably be too great. A little voice in the back of his head said that it was his child and he should raise it himself. Sometimes Pasha felt frustrated by the fact that he was stranded in society, but other times were fascinating and he couldn't deny it. Exploring parenthood, especially with a hybrid child, was not going to be dull even as his body steadily experienced more of the unpleasant side effects brought on by pregnancy.

* * *

The morning sickness didn't go away like it did for a normal pregnancy, and soon Pavel found himself weak from weight loss, iron deficiency, and almost constant migraines that nearly crippled him to the point of staying bedridden. The doctors turned out to be a big help, even though their incessant hovering felt stifling. He knew, however, that they had all kinds of ideas for making the pregnancy easier for him and therefore wasn't quick to shoo them away. He moved into the Starfleet hospital with his own private room and was monitored day and night. Genitalia aside, there was a lot of concern about how fragile he was and soon the constant scans and tests were able to tell them something useful.

There were two fetuses.

"Twins," said Dr. Edwards, "are very uncommon in Vulcan pregnancies. It explains why the bond with the 'child' was so strong and perhaps why Spock reacted so badly. It probably didn't occur to him that you may be pregnant with twins since it's so rare. According to his logic, that strong of a bond had to mean tampering from another Vulcan."

There was absolutely no way that Pavel could be sympathetic to what Spock's possible point of view had been. They spent the rest of the meeting discussing whether he would be able to carry the twins to term safely. One child was something to be cautious about, but having twins of mixed heritage brought a higher chance of complications.

"You've done well so far," Dr. Edwards said. "There's no reason to assume the worst."

"Or ze best," sighed Pavel. In reality, he was more surprised that he wasn't shocked at the new revelation, but reason said that he was pretty much ready for anything no matter how bizarre it turned out to be.

* * *

As the time progressed with all signs pointing to a successful pregnancy, Pavel made further plans for what would happen afterward the birth. Trying to find some kind of work patient enough people to understand that he might not be there in a few months because he would be recovering from giving birth was difficult. On top of that, if he was to work after the birth he would most likely have two children in tow. Now that he accepted that fact that he had life growing inside of him he wished to keep them if everything went well. After everything he had gone through and everything he will go through with the children, he thought that it would be better to not shoot for a high profile job so that he could both support his little family and still take care of his children. What he wished now was to be as far away from a Starfleet occupation as possible. No matter where he went there would always be a Starfleet base somewhere, but he now longed to escape the symbol that was etched everywhere he turned. Or perhaps he wished to escape the possibility of running into certain people from the past; though the expecting man tried to deny that he was thinking as such occasionally.

Running into the past would be the next big problem. Pavel had no idea if they would ever find out about him or what would happen if they did. They had been quick to blame him for the incident aboard the Enterprise so hopefully they would leave him be. There were more nights then he would have liked where he cried himself to sleep while remembering their harsh words and imagining even more if they discovered the pregnancy. Perhaps they wouldn't bother to find out whether the babies were Spock's. After all, they weren't going to know of the conception; or that it had required at least two months of sex between the Commander and Pavel.

Some days the young man got angry and became more determined to right the wrongs in his life. Direct revenge like publically revealing his treatment at his previous post was tempting, but he told himself repeatedly that he did not care enough and it was a waste of time on them. Then he would quickly become sad and withdrawn again because he had cared for them from the moment he was assigned to the same ship as them. Even Spock, who often preferred to be seen as cold and emotionless; the one who abandoned him. Sometimes, very rarely, Pavel missed him.

When the pregnancy entered the third trimester Pavel had to use a wheelchair. By that point he was still rather weak from the constant morning sickness and headaches and his swollen stomach completely unbalanced him. After what felt like forever he found a job that was everything he had been looking for. It wasn't on Earth even though there would be the occasional dealings with Starfleet for designing ships and power sources. It was good money though and it was a diverse place where children of all kinds would feel welcome. Pavel felt strong for the first time in a while as he confirmed his position. No one called him "Pasha" anymore, that was a child's name. He was Pavel, because that name said he was a man.


	8. Chapter 7

****Author's Note:** **This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

Just a quick warning, this chapter differs from the original a bit.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

Chapter 7

To say it was a shock receiving a call on the, until now, silent Starfleet PADD was an understatement. The buzz of Pavel's new PADD was almost always caused by his doctors calling to see how he was or update him on his health. The tone that rang out from his old PADD hadn't been heard in a good seven months. Gawping at the contraption as it buzzed and beeped on the desk he stared at it; Hikaru Sulu's name flashing on the screen several times before it faded and the device went silent again. A few moments later, it whirred with the announcement of a message, a text one at that. Wheeling himself over and he took it in shaky hands.

_Chekov,_

_I don't know if you still use this PADD, it rang so I guess you must be using it. I'm sorry I haven't contacted you before now. Just wanted to know if you're OK these days. Call me back?_

_Sulu_

It was short and simple. The man had tried to call first so Chekov couldn't blame him or be mad since he hadn't picked up. Pavel wasn't sure what to make of this. It was strange seeing his last name on the screen, almost as strange as seeing Sulu's. He supposed that they should refer to each other by last names now that they were no longer friends. It just seemed odd that now they really did belong to different worlds. Sulu was a pilot of the Enterprise, out there in the stars somewhere. Chekov, now Pavel, was a hopeful soon to be a parent and planet-side until leaving for his new life. It had been so long since hearing from any of the ones that betrayed him.

_I'm sorry I haven't contacted you before now._

There was no reason given for Sulu not calling before now. Although, he supposed it went both ways. It wasn't as if Pavel himself had tried to call him.

_Just wanted to know if you're OK these days._

So Sulu felt the gap between their different lives too. Yet he hadn't called before now. He wasn't worried, simply curious and maybe a bit guilty after suddenly remembering his ex-crewmate one day. Most likely calling out of boredom; perhaps the Enterprise hadn't seen any adventure for a while. There was no news given of how Sulu or anyone else was. Maybe Pavel shouldn't answer.

He had gotten a new PADD, deciding that he should have something that was truly his. He hadn't gotten rid of the old one given to him by Starfleet though. He hadn't thought about it until now as everything going on over the last few months had distracted him. The new PADD was plain, with no Starfleet logo etched into it, and he had transferred all of the important files to it and put them into areas that were out of sight if someone tried to gain access to them.

_Call me back?_

No, he wouldn't call back. He could imagine how that conversation would go. Pavel would hold the thing on his swollen belly in a way so Sulu couldn't see it or even guess he was with child. The pilot would ask Pavel how he was and then say that he honestly looked terrible. Was he in a hospital? Where was he? Pavel would just lie and lie so the man could see the old Chekov that he used to know and Pavel himself could relax knowing he wouldn't drag the entire Enterprise crew to see him.

"No, no, I'm fine, Sulu. I hawe had a cold. I hawe just mowed to nev lodgings. I am still vorking for Starfleet. I might be vorking on a nev ship soon."

Then Sulu would ask, "What ship? Where? I'll look out for it."

He wouldn't look, but he would say it all the same. Just to be kind even though he would be too busy to check for a new ship until they were planet side again or if they crossed paths with the ship. That would lead to all kinds of awkward questions when it was discovered that Pavel wasn't on board.

Deleting the message, he wheeled himself to his table where his food tray was and placed the PADD next to the empty dishes. He would tell whoever came to pick up the stuff to return it to Starfleet as he no longer needed their "kind offer" of "letting" him "keep" it. He didn't want to hear from his past and with the old PADD gone he would likely get his wish.

* * *

The due date was drawing closer, and even though the future was still very uncertain, Pavel could only feel relief. He was tired of the back pain, headaches, nausea, uncontrollable hormones, the wheelchair, the hospital, and being tired all the time. The worry of what might happen was overridden with the feeling of wanting it all to be done and over with. If Pavel died, he wouldn't have to deal with anymore pain. His mother would be unhappy, but not devastated since they had never been close. He didn't know whether it was her own refusal to bond with her first child or simply her inability to do so because of some kind of depression. It just didn't matter to him anymore. He didn't feel sad when he thought of her in general, but he did when thinking of their shared past so he didn't think of it often. Spock wouldn't feel too bad, because the Vulcan's logical ways would most likely persuade him that he hadn't intentionally impregnated Pavel and the small male had chosen not to ask for help therefore it wasn't his problem. The fact that he wouldn't have to worry about running into the blonde out in space would probably lift a weight off of his shoulders that the Vulcan would refute ever being there. As for the others they would probably, hopefully, never know except for one.

Sometimes Pavel laughed to himself as he thought of some not so nice things, which he was allowed to do since the children could very well end of his life. He laughed at what a bunch of idiots the crew was made up of. Spock, the hypocrite who claimed to be emotionless, but as soon as he experiences some he goes out of his way to destroy the cause. Uhura; so possessive of Spock that she didn't even realize those actions had turned her into a hateful person. Kirk; so obviously in love with Spock that he was depressed without the Vulcan and positively submissive around him. Sulu and Scotty were too afraid of protocol to question their superiors, but still able to believe cruel rumors. Then there was McCoy; so busy, so patronizing, yet unable to stand up for what he believed in when Kirk or Spock contradicted his opinion to his face.

If there was one person from the Enterprise that the pregnant man wouldn't mind seeing again it would be McCoy. Though they had never been on the best terms, what with him always getting hurt somehow and McCoy being his usual crabby self, they had a decent acquaintanceship between the two of them. Out of everyone, McCoy hadn't blamed him. Oh, the older man hadn't defended him, at least from what Pavel knew, but he had never said that everything was Pavel's fault. If fact the doctor had pulled him aside just days before leaving the Enterprise.

"You didn't do anything, Chekov. Don't believe a word they say, you hear me? I'm going to fight this for you, you just lay low and recover from what that hobgoblin has put you through. You ever need me I'm just a call away," the southern man had told him, holding onto his shoulders in a comforting manner.

That was why McCoy's information was on his new PADD. That was why he kept the man updated on what had been happening to him. He knew that the doctor would keep his mouth shut unless something forced his hand. It had been McCoy that kept him from committing suicide before he learned about the pregnancy, McCoy who helped him list the pros and cons of the pregnancy, McCoy who updated him on all of the stupid behavior of the crew members landing up in medbay, minus their names of course, every time he called. McCoy was his rock and he wasn't going to lose that. He may even be one of the few friends Pavel may have left in the entire universe.

* * *

A month later he was still waiting to die.

He slid in and out of consciousness continuously. The first time it was to the sound of violent beeps and the cries of infants. The second time was to a low hum and the clink of metal on glass. He was certain that the other times were only within a few seconds of each other, as a distant conversation remained constant in timbre and location; somewhere to Pavel's left, possibly just outside the open door.

His body was numb and cold, but he didn't shiver. Then the darkness came, making him feel nothing.

The next time he awoke Dr. Edwards was standing by his bedside smiling down at him. She lifted a hand, which he recognized as his own, to her mouth and kissed it.

"You did it, Pavel," she said, softly, "You did it."


	9. Chapter 8

****Author's Note:** **This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

Quick note; I changed the children's names to Russian names. Lyusya means light and Vitaliy means full of life. I thought they seemed like appropriate names for Pavel's little bundles of joy.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 8_

It took a few weeks for Pavel to build up his strength after the birth. Although the babies had obviously been delivered via caesarean, the anesthetic had knocked him out during the procedure because of his weakened state. As soon as he was able to leave his bed unassisted he started a workout that would help him recover faster. Gradually he worked sit ups into his daily regime to try and redevelop his abs, which currently felt like they were all over the place. The fact that his hormones were somewhat under control again brought an overwhelming relief that made him feel much more confident that he would be able to have a relatively normal future. During his time stuck in bed the new mother, or birth father, began to meticulously plan for his family's move to Victoria Six, where his new job was located. Already a positive feeling about the position was taking hold since he was receiving messages of congratulations on the children's successful births and several others expressing concern for all of them.

The children were doing well according to the doctors. His little boy was named Vitaliy, and his baby girl was Lyusya. Initially, he had been worried when the two babies were first placed in his arms. Pavel had prepared for the worst, to feel degust or something else toward the children on sight, but when he first laid eyes on the two he could only registered that they were two babies. Small, pink, and a little squashed; just two cute babies with slightly pointed ears. As of yet there was no way to tell whether the kids' eyebrows would be the characteristic Vulcan eyebrows or a more human version of that particular trait. Both were pale and green-blooded, although that was only apparent if one looked very closely. Vitaliy had a lot of very black hair while Lyusya was mostly bald, though a few thin bits of dark hair were growing in. They were still tiny, helpless, and unable to even roll, but day by day they were becoming more bright-eyed and alert. As the weeks passed he spent nearly every waking moment with them, resulting in an ever growing love them. They were his precious babies that he had brought into this world.

Dr. Edwards visited them at Pavel's apartment one afternoon, about a week before they were due to leave. She watched Pavel dress Vitaliy and make faces at him. Although both the children were responsive, Vitaliy definitely emoted more. Lyusya had yet to smile, but the doctors had assured Pavel that everthing else was fine. They said she emoted less do to Vulcan heritage, and that both babies might take a while longer to become more expressive. He was encouraged to keep smiling and talking to them as much as possible.

"You've given them human names, yes?" asked Dr. Edwards.

Pavel grinned at his son and kissed his forehead before replying to her, "I do not knov many Wulcan ones, or at least names zat would suit eizer of zem. Anyvay, I do not vant zem to feel too attached to a culture vhere zey might newer be velcomed in."

Dr. Edwards nodded, "When are you leaving?"

"In a veek."

"There's been no word from New Vulcan or the Enterprise?"

"Vhy should zere be?" said Pavel, gently lifting Vitaliy to place him in his cot before picking up Lyusya to dress her. "I hawe no need to contact Nev Wulcan as zey vill make me vait a wery long time. If zey bozer viz ze message of my pregnancy at all. I am leawing in a veek and zere is only you and ze ozer people vho helped me viz zis to say goodbye to. I do not plan to message Doctor McCoy until I hawe settled in viz the children."

The doctor moved to lean over the crib and tickled the baby boy beneath his chin. "You're not letting your mother know of your move, then?"

Pavel laughed, the sound of it actually making Dr. Edwards flinch. "My mozer probably does not ewen knov I vas in Starfleet! No, no, zere is nozing, sentimental or ozervise, betveen her and myself."

She sighed, "I'm sorry I asked, again. It's just that it would be in your best interests to gain as much support as possible. Having close bonds with people away from Victoria Six would certainly be beneficial to you and the children."

"Ah, netvorking," said Pavel, and Dr. Edwards faintly registered that his accent had softened since they first met. Pavel smiled as he finished dressing Lyusya and picked her up for a cuddle. "All friendships and families hawe to begin somevhere. Many refugees and runaways are forced to start from scratch. Some fail, but many, many succeed."

"Not that you're a runaway, of course."

"In some vays, yes, I am. But I do hawe at least one friendship here, and zat is you." The young Russian man approached her and with the free arm not supporting his daughter, embraced the doctor. "For all zat you hawe done, since ze wery start, I zank you. I shall miss you, Isabella."

A week later, Pavel boarded the ship that would take him and his children to their new home. The journey would be long, but comfortable and he laughed when he found himself in space for the first time in seven months.

"Is it not beautiful, my children?" he said to the twins, moving their double bassinette close to a window. He hesitated, "Hov strange to zink you tvo vere conceiwed in space." Then he burst out laughing. It was a good thing everyone's quarters were soundproof or they would think he was insane.


	10. Chapter 9

****Author's Note:** **This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

I changed and few things around in this chapter. As the adopted chapters come to and end I'm working on making them fit with what I intend to do when I have complete control over the writing. I also put in some Russian which is translated in the story and will have a pronunciation placed at the bottom of the chapter. I got it off of Google Translator so if any of you know Russian, please tell me if I ended up murdering the phrase and send me a correct version.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 9_

The first person Pavel met when he and the kids arrived on Victoria Six was David. David turned out to own a large portion of the company that the single parent was going to work for and had insisted upon being the first to greet the little family when they left the ship. David was a flirtatious man with a build not unlike Mr. Scotts, but with light brown curly hair that hung around his face in a fashionable way. The man was charming, filthy rich, and about sixteen years Pavel's senior. When they stood in front of each other for the first time David said, "Let me see, you're a young genius; expert in math and science. You play chess, can fight, ridiculously attractive, and you carried twins to term. Is there anything you can't do, Pavel?"

Still in the thrall of post-natal hormones, Pavel had his defenses up. He replied, "I cannot stand being patronized, Sir."

For a split second he thought he had made a terrible mistake, but David just laughed, insisting they get a drink together some time. Of course, Pavel assumed that the older man had meant "have a drink as acquaintances" and nothing else. He was simply being nice and chatting with the new employee.

Not like that mattered much though, because the young Russian didn't get much time for such things during the first few weeks of his arrival. Thankfully most of his work was allowed to be done at home, giving him time to spend with his babies and put the house together. The children still acted differently from a fully human infants so it was nerve wracking to leave them alone for too long. They didn't cry when they wanted something, Pavel just got a feeling that they needed a certain thing at a certain time. That had to be the bond that the three of them shared, the one that Dr. Edwards had said would form since the two would come to rely on him and learn from him trough that bond. They did, however, whine whenever he was out of their sight for more than two hours. It was common place after the first four times this happened that their "mother" would do her work in the living room, since it had a plush carpet and baby safe furniture, while the little ones crawled around investigating anything they could get their hands on. If there was one thing that worried Pavel it was those two investigating things; they weren't destructive or getting into potentially harmful things, they just had to know everything. Mother had a food or drink, they needed to try it; Mother had a book or was watching the television, they had to be right there involved with what he was doing. It was equal parts cute and frustrating. The same thing could be said for the twins' habit of doing the same thing at the same time; meaning he was very good at doing diaper changes fast and correctly.

Pavel worked hard at being a working single parent. Even though his superiors and colleagues supported him and were sympathetic to his situation, he still made sure to make an appearance at the office at least twice a week. Each appearance he brought the kids along with him. They would stare almost unblinkingly at everything and every person that came to say hello and comment on how cute they looked in their matching outfits. After Lyusya had thrown her first, and only, temper tantrum at having to wear a dress Pavel had made a point of buying duplicates of every outfit he bought since the twins seemed to enjoy dressing the same. Absently he wondered if that would be the same for swimsuits too since he did plan on teaching them how to swim in the public pool less than five blocks away from their home.

He still occasionally felt overwhelmed by everything. It wasn't that he didn't love his job or his children, but he spent so much time fearing that he might never get to this point in his life that it was often sobering whenever the reasons _why_ he was here came back to him. Whenever he looked at the children, he remembered Spock, but only for a short time before falling in love with the two hybrids all over again. Sometimes he wondered if the memories of Spock while looking at the twins were like the possible memories that his mother had when she looked at him. Maybe that was why she had not wanted to look at him; looking at him reminded her of something she would rather forget. That didn't matter though because he wasn't going to resent his children. He _adored_ them; they were his world, his everything.

Which probably factored into the reasons as to why he felt strange when David asked him out on a date in a rather blunt way; which was characteristic for the man. Naturally there was the lingering hurt of his last relationship that still haunted him. Then there was the fear of going through another relationship that would end disastrously just as he was getting used to the idea of dating that person. There was the fact that he had not really considered having a love life after having the kids too. He had never really thought about love in the first place since his career had dominated his focus before the whole Spock debacle. There was also the fact that if he did start trying to see someone now, that might cut into his work or worse, spending less time with his Маленький принц и принцесса (1), his Little Prince and Princess.

He was not exactly against the idea of going out with David, who seemed to have decent intentions toward Pavel. It was also a plus that the attention he was getting hadn't been met with hostility from the other employees at the office. It seemed that he had finally found a job where people behaved appropriately when in regards to each other's private lives. However, David's wealth and undeniable sense of status was slightly intimidating. If David actually proved to be some kind of scoundrel, he would suffer absolutely no judgment and Pavel would potentially be left with a broken heart again. He was also acutely aware that David's life was mostly filled with blank spaces. The rich man was very private and no one around the office knew all that much about him. Yvonne, Pavel's immediate superior told him that David had never dated anyone from the office before. "You must have really caught his eye," she had told him, giving him a little wink. Pavel just heaved a sigh when she had walked away. He had thought he had Spock's eye when they were effectively married too and that hadn't ended well.

When Pavel returned home on Friday with the twins sleeping peacefully in their carrier, he thought on the subject a little more. He would be thirty-six when the children became eighteen. He was uncertain whether or not he wished to return to space, and most likely Starfleet, at some point in the futre, but the children's needs came first. There was no way he was going to run off on them to go gallivanting across the stars; he was still somewhat haunted by the rumors of Jim Kirk's upbringing. As he bathed the twins right before bed time, Pavel activated the video feed on his PADD and called McCoy for the first time since leaving Earth.

"Hello?" The older man's tired face came on the screen. The background looked like her was in his personal quarters so Pavel must have timed things just right.

"Hello, Doctor. I apologize if I hawe called at a bad time," Pavel spoke while the twins investigated the ripples in the water like they always did.

"Chekov?" Now the doctor looked wide awake with a scowl on his face. "Do you have an idea how worried I was? You said you'd call when you settled and then I didn't hear a damn thing from you."

"It took longer zen I zought it would to settle. Babies and vork take a lot of free time you knov," the young parent chided. Vitaliy gave an experimental slap at the shallow water creating a little splash.

McCoy chuckled at the interested noises the twins made as they splashed around in the tub while Pavel bathed them with a soft cloth. "Alright, I'll let you off the hook thus time. So you settle in alright? Everything okay?"

"Ze last of ze boxes hawe been unpacked and vork is good, wery accommodating. Vhat about you? Nozing too nerwe vracking I hope."

"Nothing more than usual. This crew is filled with idiots and the only intelligent people are the ones stationed in sickbay. Mr. Scott got injured installing a still in the engine room. A still on a Starfleet ship, can you believe that?"

"From vhat I remember of him I can say zat I can," Pavel chuckled. "Leonard, I hawe a personal problem. I vas vondering if you vould giwe me some adwise."

Attention grabbed by the use of his seldom heard first name, the doctor was alert and piercing his former crewmate with a concerned look. "What is it, Pavel?"

"Recently, a man named Dawid vho ovns most of ze company I vork for asked me out. As in a date. I do not knov vhat to do. He seems nice, but no one at vork knovs him zat vell. Zat, and I do not vant to be separated from ze tvins for wery long."

The two adults stayed silent for a while, the only sounds being made were coming from the two in the tub who were nice and clean and splashing each other with warm water. There was a rare smile on Lyusya's face and Vitaliy was giggling something fierce.

"I can't tell you what to do, Pavel. Ultimately the choice has to be yours. But I don't see any reason for you to not go on at least one date with him if he seems alright. If that date goes well then you can go on more," McCoy suggested. "Just promise me that you'll call more often and that the first sign of things going south you get away from that guy, okay?"

Pavel nodded with a smile. The two adults continued to talk even after Pavel had dried and redressed the twins in their night clothes. McCoy chuckled at the matching outfits and outright laughed when the single parent explained why he had to dress them like that.

A few nights later, Pavel found himself at a bar, talking with David while a highly recommended babysitter watched the twins. The man was nice looking with his dark eyes and fluffy looking hair. David apparently liked to make people laugh, because Pavel was shaking with laughter in a rather unattractive way by the end of the night. He had a wonderful time, and when David asked if they could go out again, the young parent said yes as long as they kept it less than two hours like they did this time.

They officially started going out after the third date. The Russian had no idea whether the relationship was going to last, but he knew he was happy and that he liked David well enough. Fortunately, older man was almost as intelligent as he was rich so the pair never felt out of their depth when talking to each other. David was too easygoing and polite to turn Pavel away, even when he was being extremely vulgar or flirtatious. He was also curious about the children, but when they arranged a day out with them, Pavel finally felt out of his depth. He didn't know how David would be around the twins, but as it turned out, he needn't have worried. David wasn't exactly great with infants, but he didn't panic when the twins went tumbling around in the grass or made a fuss when he picked them up. For some reason though, no matter how many times the twins and David were near each other, they didn't seem to like the other. Pavel could tell not only from the bond with his babies, but from the disgruntled look on David's face when he thought Pavel wasn't looking. It was also discovered during all these dates that David owned a mansion, which even David admitted was ridiculously huge and pretentious. "Belonged to my grandfather," he had explained somewhat sheepishly.

Then the day eventually came when David asked about Vitaliy and Lyusya's other biological parent.

"I admit I had a little look in your file before you came here," he said thoughtfully as he sat in Pavel's kitchen watching him make dinner. "But a lot of it was kind of complicated and I wasn't sure if I really understood it."

Pavel smiled softly even though he felt a little chill at the thought that the man had tried looking through his classified medical file, "I zink I can tell you, if you vant to hear it zat badly."

"You don't have to, I mean that. If you don't think I need to hear it then, please, don't worry about it. But we're dating and you have the kids, I feel like I should understand anything that might come up. I really like you, and the babies are the cutest, even if I'm not the best with them."

"For a bachelor vho is obwiously terrified of children, you are not bad viz zem, Dawid." Pavel chose to kept quiet that the twins didn't like him at all and that the more they interacted with him the less they liked him. No, the Russian would look into that later and possibly talk to Leonard about it.

"Hey, I'm not terrified of anything. Just wary. Kids are smart, especially yours."

"Oh, I knov," laughed Pavel with pride. They looked at each other for a moment, and then he took a breath and exhaled lightly, "Vhere should I begin?"

* * *

**Pronunciation Key:**

(1) Malen'kiy prints i printsessa


	11. Chapter 10

****Author's Note:** **This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

This is the last adopted chapter! After this I have free reign over the story. You have been warned.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 10_

By now, Pavel accepted that life was not fair and it was pretty illogical to say the least. He wasn't exactly at peace with that, but he accepted it nonetheless. However, this didn't mean that he wasn't surprised when David casually proposed to him barely a year after meeting each other.

"Vhat?" he practically squeaked, staring at his boyfriend after the man had insisted he wasn't playing some kind of joke.

"Let's get married," said David, amused and completely unmoved by Pavel's incredulousness. "We're happy. We make each other laugh, we're into the same things, and we look _great_ together."

"I cannot beliewe zis," said Pavel. "Ve are not ewen in lowe! Ve are happy, sure, but zis is the most casual, serious relationship ewer!"

"But it's still a _successful_ relationship. And we love each other, even if we're not _in_ love. And I love the kids, and they love me."

"Vhy _marriage_? Vhy can we not just try living togezer or somezing first?" Pavel had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from adding that the kids didn't love him, they _hated_ him.

"We can do that if you want, and I'm not saying this is going to end out relationship or anything if you don't accept, Babe." David smiled apologetically, "I'll be honest, I'm proposing for selfish reasons. My father has been trying to make me marry you since he figured out he wasn't going to get grandchildren any other way, but marriage. Second, you know how much the people at headquarters on Earth love monogamy. Even though we've been dating for over ten months, it would look better if we were married. It would make us look good in general."

If anyone else had said what David was right now they would have probably gotten punched in the face by know. He knew David though. He knew how they were together. They had both uncomfortably admitted to not being passionately in love months previously, but they both desperately wanted to stay together since they were so fond of each other. David had made a joke at the time, at how they were already an old married couple. Clearly that had put ideas into his head.

"But marriage, Dawid? Just zink about vhat you are saying! Ve vould be liwing togezer. Ve vould, right?" he asked, eyeing the now nodding man. "Zere vould be tvo babies making noise and messes all ze time, ve vould hawe to tolerate each ozer."

"You have no faith," sighed David dramatically. Then he smiled kindly at the younger man, "I don't know if you've noticed, but I live in a huge house. Sure, I'd rather be sharing a bed with you, but you're entitled to your own wing in that old place. And the kids aren't that bad, not for one-year-olds, or so I'm told."

Pavel just laughed in disbelief, "And vhat if one day, one or boz of us vant to be viz ozer people?"

"Not a problem. If either of us wants to date outside the marriage, that's fine; as long as the other doesn't mind. We should probably maintain a front of monogamy unless any other attachments get more serious, and if that happens we can get a divorce."

They talked for a long time; Pavel still not quite certain whether to believe that this was happening.

"Dawid," he said with a sigh, "I vant to trust you and beliewe zat zis vould vork, but I am not certain zat I can. Ze last relationship I vas in, I seriously misjudged the situations and ewen zough I knov I vas not in ze vrong, I still made a lot of mistakes. I trusted too easily and vas out of my depz from ze beginning."

David took Pavel's hands in his, stroking his thumbs along pale skin. "Your last relationship was with a self-absorbed asshole," he said softly. "I'm sorry, Pavel. I didn't do this very well. But the offer still stands. I do want to marry you. I think, no, I _know_ we'd be amazing together, and if anything we'd have a lot of fun. But it's not a necessity, and you don't even have to think about it if it's too ridiculous for you. Just... please don't break up with me over it," he finished quickly.

"I vill not," laughed Pavel. "And you hawe not offended me or anyzing, it is just that I do not quite see vhat ve vould do afterwards. Ve vould be _married_, Dawid. I hawe children. Do you actually vant to be a parent to zem? Because you can be casual with me, but _not_ vith zem, not ewer."

"I'll become a willing parent to Lyusya and Vitaliy. They wouldn't have to address me as 'father' or anything like that if that's going to be an issue, but if they want to, they can. If you marry me, I'll dote on them, teach them and give them advice as soon as they're old enough to need it; the whole damn thing. Of course I'll do that whether we're married or not, if we're still together or talking at least."

It took four weeks for Pavel to give David an answer, and he wasn't sure who was more surprised by his decision. He came to a conclusion after a particularly restless night of getting up to deal with Lyusya, who kept fussing, and from being unable to switch off his thoughts. It was odd, but his contemplation of marrying had become very, very selfish, even as he tried to remain thoughtful of David and the twins. He thought over David's words, _"It would make us look good."_ Yes, he supposed they did look good together. With Lyusya and Vitaliy, they looked like a proper family. They looked mature, like nothing could touch them. So the next day Pavel called David and said bluntly, "I zink ve should get married."

The wedding was highly publicized on Victoria Six, even though they hadn't allowed photography of any kind during the ceremony. It wasn't extraordinarily grand, for neither had many friends and even less family. Just about the entire office was invited though. Pavel didn't tell his mother, she had never responded to the news of the twins anyway. There just didn't seem any point in trying to tell her. He also kept his surname. For some reason he hadn't liked the idea of changing his last name, nor his children's. It would change them all too much, and what if things didn't work out? David had been fine with it even as his father had kicked up a fuss which Pavel quickly ignored, taking the twins with him when he left. Besides that, the twins were aware of what was going on, though everyone else thought he was lying. They didn't like the idea of the marriage, but accepted it since it made their mother happy, according to the bond. He also got a lot of hostility aimed more at David and his father when the conversation about last names came up. Marriage or not, Pavel wasn't going to force his prince and princess to do anything they absolutely refused to do.

Of all the stupid things he had ever done in his life, this one took the cake. It was the single most stupid decision he had ever made, but as he said his vows he was filled with warm delight. This felt right, even though it felt so terribly _wrong_.


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** As stated in the last chapter, I have full control of the story now. There are no more chapters from the original story to post.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 11_

Married life with David was shockingly sweet. They lived together in David's large mansion, but Pavel kept his house instead of selling it like what David said to do. For some reason having the house in his name made him feel better, especially if the whole affair went south; he even left the majority of his things there, choosing to take the gifts that David bought him to stock his domain within the mansion. Plus, David didn't have a key to the house so there was no fear of David getting in if Pavel didn't want him there.

That aside, Pavel got his own wing just as David had promised, with the twins in a nursery that was connected to his room. It was a nice set of rooms too. There was a big bed with a soft mattress and expensive quality sheets on it, actual wooden furniture made centuries ago, soft carpet floors, and soft blue walls. He wasn't a fan of the top of the line cribs as they were very high in technology, Pavel personally preferred the simpler designs with minimal technology. He and David spent hours together. They ate as a family, went out on dates even though they were married, and overall had a wonderful time with each other. David was so sweet and made it so that he had everything he could possibly want.

It was everything that Pavel could have asked for and more.

Until everything changed that is.

It was raining on his day off. The one day of the week that Pavel didn't have to do any work and Victoria Six decides it needs to rain. He had been looking forward to taking Lyusya and Vitaliy to the park so they could play with other kids. They didn't interact with children their age that much and the now married Russian was worried that it would affect them later on in life. Without interaction with other children, his Little Prince and Princess may not learn to emote well enough to make it through society easily due to lack of examples around. After all, Pavel could only do so much and their Vulcan heritage was strong in them. Vulcan's, though incredibly smart, had a stigma about them that they were emotionless robots. The young parent was determined to have his babies act more human than Commander Spock did so they wouldn't have to deal with cruel words like that.

Hearing his PADD start to beep, Pavel turned away from the droplet covered window to look at the name. Smiling he answered while petting Lyusya's dark hair which had grown in thick and curly not unlike Pavel's blonde lochs.

"Hello, Leonard," he greeted.

"Hey there, Pavel," the Enterprise doctor smiled gently at him. The two had gotten closer through their scattered conversations and were now comfortable with use each other's first names. "How are things going over there? How's married life treating you?"

"Oh, Leonard, it is vonderful. Dawid is so sveet to me and zey tvins, but I vorry," Pavel drifted off as he started to play with Vitaliy's hair which was curly as well and a lighter shade then Lyusya's, almost like a dark brown color instead of Vulcan black.

"What are you worried about what?" the southern man asked.

"I vorry about Lyusya and Vitaliy. No matter vhat is done, ze tvo of zem just do not seem to like Dawid." Pavel pouted when the other man laughed.

"Pavel, that's normal. Any kid in the same situation would respond the same way. The new parent entering their lives is someone they don't know, and they won't trust easily. To them, David is steeling you away from them, and they don't like sharing the attention with anyone, but each other," Leonard explained.

"Z-zat makes a lot of sense. Vhat do you zink vill help zem get ower zis?" The door to his bedroom opened and closed. That was probably David looking for him.

"Personally I think you need to stop pushing them to accept the change. They'll adjust at their own rate and not any faster. It'll take time, so you need to be patient," Leonard advised. He was so knowledgeable, probably because he was a father as well and talked to her almost weekly now. Leonard had told once with excitement that if he survived the five year mission and his daughter wanted to, Starfleet would help him gain custody of the girl and she could go on the Enterprise with him. The older man had been almost bouncing when he told Pavel.

Seeing David in the doorway of the nursery that connected it to his bedroom, Pavel paused. The older man looked extremely unhappy, as if something at work went wrong in a rather spectacular way.

"Leonard, I hawe to go now. Dawid came back from vork," he said.

"Sure thing Pavel, I'll talk to you some other time." With a wave they disconnected.

"Vhat is vrong, Dawid?" Pavel asked as he placed the twins on the soft carpet.

"Who was that?" David asked a little heatedly.

"Leonard. I told you about him. Remember? Ze only person to try and defend me?" Pavel frowned, he knew that he had told David about Leonard.

"And what? You're all chummy with him? Since when was he 'Leonard'?" David snarled as he advanced towards the smaller male.

Pavel's eyes narrowed as he held his ground when David stood right in front of him. "Just vhat are you accusing me of?"

"Are you sleeping with him?" David snapped.

Blinking, Pavel tried to get over the shock of the accusation. When he finally processed what his husband had said the young parent felt a spike of pure rage course through his body.

"Excuse me? How dare you accuse me of somezing like zat! I hawe done no such zing! Furzer more, ewen if I vas doing zat, you said before ve got married zat we could sleep viz anyone ve vant as long as ve look like a happy couple in public!" Pavel snarled back. This was absurd! He was being accused of being unfaithful yet again!

"Just answer the question, are you fucking him?" David screamed at him.

"I said no!" Pavel yelled right back, "He is aboard ze Enterprise! How vould za-"

A sharp slap resounded in the room.

Pavel turned his face so he was facing his husband again with his left check bright red and stinging. He gently placed his left hand on the pained part of his face and stared in shock at David. Yet he wasn't really seeing David. It was like he knew David was there and could physically see him, but in his mind he was remembering when he had experienced something similar. Something that happened when he had been married to a certain Vulcan.

"You hit me," he whispered.

"Pavel, I-" David started looking horrified.

"You hit me." Tears started forming in his eyes. He could feel a large amount of distress and anger coming from the twins' bond.

"P-Pavel I-I'm sorry," David's voice quivered. He brought Pavel into a tight hug, petting his hair as he whispered to him, "I'm sorry. I won't ever do it again, Babe. I'm sorry."

Pavel stayed in the embrace, but he took no comfort in it. He was remembering what he had tried to forget for so long. He didn't want to leave David, but this was almost exactly how things started to collapse between him and the Vulcan Commander. He hoped David wouldn't turn out to be like Commander Spock.

He also knew this event wouldn't endear the twins to his husband either.


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 12_

He should have listened to his instincts faster. Hell, he should have listened to Lyusya and Vitaliy's reactions in the beginning. He only had himself to blame for not seeing it to begin with.

Pavel wept bitter tears as he called the police from the twins' bedroom in the back of his house. There was angry screaming accompanied by banging on the locked front door. He wasn't going to deal with this again, especially since he had children to think about this time.

David hadn't kept his promise.

After the slap incident things had been tentative for a few weeks before returning to normal. Then David started becoming possessive again. It started when he began demanding that Pavel not talk to certain people at work which then escalated to forcing him to work at home all the time. He restricted time outside the mansion and the frightened young man had to be in David's presence if he did leave. The final straw was the older man forcing himself on Pavel and then threatening to send the twins away if he didn't do as told.

No one threatened his babies.

So on the night where David was sure to be working through the night and out of the mansion, Pavel took the children and ran back to the house he had started in. There he had enough food that was still good to live off for a few weeks and even then he had an emergency replicator. All points of entry were locked, shades and curtains drawn closed, and he bunked down in the twins' sunrise painted bedroom.

Of course he called into work the next morning to use all of his saved sick and personal days so he could avoid his husband until things were sorted out. He hadn't expected David to be in the office or that he would be told that the young man was going to be absent for a while. The infuriated older man came banging on the door not thirty minutes after Pavel had called in. At first he had sounded worried, but as time passed with the door never opening and no verbal responses, his tone changed to enraged.

"Police, how may I help you?" a voice answered the call.

"M-my name is Pawel Chekow. P-please, send s-someone r-right avay. My hu-husband is trying to b-break into ze house I own. He is wery angry. I am afraid of vhat he vill do if he gets in," Pavel sobbed as an especially loud bang came from the door.

"Alright sir, tell me the address and I'll send someone over."

"45 Minute Awenue; about 20 minutes from ze shuttle port."

"Alright, I've got someone on the way. Now Mr. Chekov, I need you to tell me what happened to make your husband act like this," the officer at the other end instructed.

"I-I left his house and called in absent from vork," Pavel whimpered

"Alright, why did you leave your husband's residence?"

"He- he vas being too controlling. He did not let me leave unattended and f-forced himself on me. H-he zreatened to take my children avay," he was crying anew now.

The officer was quiet for a moment before continuing the conversation, "Mr. Chekov, has your husband ever physically assaulted you? I mean, has he ever hit you?"

"Just-Just once. A hard slap to ze face for talking to an old colleague of mine. He accused me of cheating."

It felt like forever with the officer contently asking questions about him, his marriage, and the children. David kept banging on the door even as the police stopped outside the house. Pavel heard him trying to act like the concerned husband, but the officer he was on the phone with drew his attention away saying that he shouldn't listen to the man. It grew quiet for a bit before three brisk knocks hit the door. The officer on the phone told him to check out the window; it was an officer that had been dispatched so the officer on the phone said goodbye. Opening the door a crack, Pavel looked at the stern yet genuinely concerned man standing on his door step.

"Mr. Chekov?"

"Y-yes?"

"We have apprehended Mr. Dexter. Are you alright?"

"Sh-shaken, but fine, Sir."

"Would you like to press charges?"

Pavel paused. Did he want to press charges against David? Thinking back on all the things David had done, the answer seemed clear. This time he was going to prove he would not stand being treated like this. With a hard look in his blue eyes Pavel answered:

"Yes, I vould."

* * *

Hours later Pavel finally got the chance to call the one person he really wanted to talk to. After the police took David away Pavel had talked to his lawyer, Mr. West, to work on the lawsuit and the divorce that was necessary at this point. He had also called Dr. Edwards to let her know the situation and that once everything was resolved, Mr. West was on his way over and confident they would win both cases, he was moving back to Earth. The female doctor had mother henned him for at least an hour before he told her he had to go.

With the kids cuddled to his chest, Pavel waited with baited breath and bloodshot eyes for the other person to pick up. His prince and princess refused to sleep during their normal nap time and they were still refusing even though it was way past their bed time. He just knew they would be cranky in the morning.

"'Ello?" Came the tired voice of the Enterprise CMO.

"L-Leonard, I- I vas so wery stupid," Pavel whimpered. He felt the twins nuzzle his chest.

"Pavel? Wha' happened? Wha's wrong?" Leonard's face appeared on the screen as he activated the video feed.

"D-Dawid vas vorse zan I zought. L-Leonard; he hit me, he forced me to hawe sex viz him, he vanted to take my babies avay," Pavel sobbed out, holding the twins closer to him. They didn't protest, just nuzzled and sent waves of love through their bond with him.

"Shi'; Pavel, are ya okay? How bad did he hur' ya? I swear I'll kill 'im!" the southern man snarled over the feed, his face a mixture of anger and concern.

"I am suing him. Mr. Vest says ve can vin. I am scared zough, Dawid is a poverful man here. I zink I hawe to mowe back to Earth after zis. Vhat am I going to do, Leonard?"

"Ya do what ya can. Check in with me every day, more than once if ya need to. Ya aren't going through this alone, not this time. I'm going to be with you all the way," Leonard said, his southern drawl disappearing as he woke up. "I'll see how soon I can get leave that way I can be there in person. So keep me posted on what's going on. I mean it."

"Yes, I vill."

They spent hours talking before the older man had to get ready for his shift. By that point Lyusya and Vitaliy had fallen asleep on Pavel's chest and as he turned off the PADD and laid his head down, Pave quickly followed them into the world of dreams.

* * *

Leonard went through his work in a timely manner while being unusually quiet. It made everyone in medbay uneasy as a quiet Dr. McCoy meant a doctor that was so angry he could barely speak. Only one thing could get McCoy that angry. Something had happened to Chekov. Oh, the crew assigned to the Enterprise medbay knew the good doctor was still in contact with the young blonde who had been disgraced off the ship. In fact, most of them agreed with Leonard that Chekov was completely innocent, but there was no way any of them could combat the captain's orders without potentially losing their jobs.

Then the Captain walked in.

"Hey, Bones. I need to talk to you," James T. Kirk called to the sour man.

"What?" the older man growled viciously.

"Care to explain why Uhura told me that you were talking to someone off ship for six hours before your shift started?" the blonde questioned.

"No, I don't think I need to explain my personal life to you," McCoy snarled. Ever since Chekov had been dismissed their friendship had been strained.

"Hey, I just want to know. Uhura said that the other side was protected by some extremely heavy walls that wouldn't even give her a location of origin." The captain raised his hands in defense.

"Well tell Uhura to mind her own damn business! It's my personal life and I don't need to have you people nosing around in it!" the brunette finally yelled at the nuisance.

"What is your problem, Bones?" Jim yelled back.

"My problem is that no one on this damn death trap seems to know that a person's private life is not something to be gossiped about! The only ones that do know are working in Medical!" the doctor screamed back, his hands clenching over the PADD and stylist in them.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"First it happens to Chekov and he gets thrown off without a proper investigation! Now everyone is demanding to know my personal life! Am I going to be thrown off next because everyone is suddenly paranoid over who a talk to? Huh? Is that it? Going to not question things and toss the one the rumors are about? This place makes me sick! It's like living and working with my ex-wife!" McCoy ranted.

"You're out of line, McCoy!" Kirk roared.

"Only because you know I'm telling the truth that you're ignoring! Now get out of my medbay or I'll give you a reason to stay here!"

With that Kirk stormed out. Leonard would probably regret that later, but right now he didn't care. He wasn't going to fail Pavel this time. Thankfully there were no patients in or Leonard would have snapped at the sudden applause from his subordinates.


	14. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:  **It was recently brought to my attention that the pairings I have listed in the summary don't show a lot. I wanted to make it clear that these pairings happen within the story, they may or may not change. Also, this story is told from the perspective of one person at a time. Mostly it's been Pavel, but now there will be others, mostly Leonard's. I hope this clears things up.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 13_

With a satisfied sigh, Leonard closed his suitcase. He had packed all of his personal things: civilian clothes, picture frames, and the couple books that he always kept on him because they helped him work through the hard times of his life. The books weren't anything special, but they had things written in them that encouraged him to do better, to fight for what he believed in. If only he had them when his marriage fell apart.

That aside, Leonard was ready for his leave. Being one of the only people to never really take a vacation, the doctor had racked up at least two months worth of personal time. That time he was using to go be there for Pavel. A trial date had been set and Leonard would be damned if he didn't try to make it there in time. All he had to do was get off at the station the Enterprise was stopping at in a few hours and catch either the first or second shuttle heading to Victoria Six. If there were no complications then he would get there about three days before the trail. Then, after the trial, they would pack up and head to Earth.

With a smile that was more feral than happy, Leonard picked up his suitcase and brought it to his office with him. He had to be on duty before they docked, so he had decided to save himself a trip and bring the luggage with him to work. Besides, there was a picture he wanted from there.

He was just down the hall from medbay when he was stopped by one of the three people he absolutely hated on this God forsaken ship.

"Doctor McCoy, might I enquire where you are going?" Spock asked in his Vulcan way.

"No, you may not ask," Leonard replied stiffly. He was already in hot water with Kirk, he didn't need the hobgoblin giving him grief too.

The Vulcan gave him a blank look, which was how his face always appeared. "Your suitcase indicates that you are planning on leaving."

"Mind your own business, Commander," the full human snarled.

"I am merely stating an observation, Doctor. It is illogical that it would invoke such a response." Damn green blooded bastard.

"In all honesty, Commander; I don't find your observation skills to be as skilled as you claim them to be." A raised eyebrow that meant he was intrigued. "After all, if you were that good, you could tell that I'm tired of everyone putting their noses into my personal life," the doctor griped.

Silence reigned between the two as the Vulcan seemed to process what Leonard had said to him.

"I apologize, I did not intend for to offend," Spock finally spoke.

"Apology accepted," Leonard replied even though he really didn't want to. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm due on shift soon." He made it about five steps past the Vulcan before he was called back again.

"What now?"

"Nyota has expressed an interest in celebrating the date we began our relationship. I have heard that it is customary to give gifts on such occasions. Would you know of a place where I might procure such an item?"

That was probably the most Leonard had even heard the Vulcan say. Normally he would have made a joke about it, but all he could feel was rage. So Spock never broke up with her when he was with Pavel. The green blooded bastard! Celebrating an anniversary was something the Southern man knew Pavel would have loved doing. Spock should have done things like that with Pavel!

"I suggest you ask someone else," he said with gritted teeth, "I haven't been in a relationship in a long time."

"A logical assessment." With that he turned away and stormed to medbay. How he wanted to kill the Vulcan!

Luckily he made it to medbay where he was greeted by Nurse Chapel who was sending some stupid engineer on his way.

"You look ready to kill," she commented as she set the biobed for a sterilizing cycle. With a growl Leonard went to his office and set down his suitcase. He quickly took the photo of him and his little girl and put it in the suitcase.

"I swear if Spock, Kirk, or Uhura try to stop me from leaving I'm going to kill them. On that note, you're in charge while I'm gone," the man growled.

"I'll do my best while you're gone." She walked past him to place a PADD on his desk. "By the way, I can totally help you hide a body if you need to."

A smirk graced his lips as he signed the PADD and joined her in the main room. "Trust me, if I ever need to hide a body, you'll be the first to know."

"So you think you can get there in time?" Christine asked. She was smart, he would give her that; she brought it up when there were no patients around.

"As long as I catch either the first or second shuttle I can," he responded as he leaned against the wall next to his office door.

"Give my support?" she asked.

"I'll give everyone's support, but I'll make sure that yours is the most memorable."

"Next to yours of course."

"Naturally."

They smiled at each other. This topic was always talked about in the vaguest of terms. One could never know who was listening. So far, the gossip mill was surprisingly low on rumor material on Leonard; the only one being that he was in an intimate relationship with Christine, which was not true. As such, there were too many times where the CMO found an ensign trying to over hear something or get him to admit to some random thing that they could then spread around the ship. The gossip mill had finally stopped talking about Pavel too, so there was a greater need to protect him so that he wasn't dragged back into it. So those on the young Russian's side talked in either vague terms or in a code that every supporter understood.

How they hadn't been caught by Uhura, the one who knew all the rumors that were circulating, Leonard would never know, but he was extremely grateful all the same.


	15. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 14_

After what seemed like a never ending journey on that nerve wracking shuttle, Leonard H. McCoy finally landed on Victoria Six. Cursing under his breath at the damned vessel, Leonard grabbed his suitcase from the over head storage and disembarked. He passed all the welcome parties and sign holders, heading straight outside the station and hailed a taxi. Giving the address that Pavel had told him, Leonard settled into the surprisingly clean back seats.

"You're going to this address?" the cabbie asked while looking at the doctor in the rear view mirror.

"Yes, I am. I'd appreciate getting there before night fall," Leonard growled at the man, daring him to say one negative thing about Pavel.

"Alright, alright; don't need to get snippy. Just a lot of things being said about the family that lives there." The taxi pulled away from the shuttle station as the man continued speaking, "Word is that-"

"I don't like gossip," the doctor snarled sharply.

"Sorry," the cabbie apologized.

From then on the ride was silent.

Finally with some quiet, McCoy was able to think back on the good fortune he had during his departure from the Enterprise. After shift, Leonard had made it to the teleporting pads and beamed to the station the Enterprise was refueling at. From there he worked his way through security check and had just gotten his suitcase back from the random check, which he had been selected for, when he heard his name being called. Uhura had apparently followed him to the station and was charging toward him with a look that said she wanted answers only to be brought up short by the security officers. It took everything in him to refrain from smirking at her as she argued with the uniforms. Quickly the southern born man got through his gate and took the seat closest to the bathroom. As the shuttle took off, it was the last one he could catch that would land before Pavel's trial, Leonard smiled to himself over the fact that he had escaped yet another Uhura interrogation.

"We're here," the voice of the cabbie broke through his thoughts.

Nodding, Leonard paid the man and climbed out to stand on the sidewalk with his suitcase in hand.

This was it; about two years after that horrible incident on the Enterprise, Leonard was finally going to talk to Pavel in person and not on a video screen. He would get to interact with the kids in person too! Gathering his courage and excitement, the CMO walked to the door as the taxi drove away. Then he realized there were news vans all over the road. Great, they would probably spin some stupid story about Pavel and him being lovers and that the divorce and lawsuit were just a ploy to get money. Damn reporters. Knocking on the green painted door, the doctor waited patiently for a response.

There was the sound of rushed footsteps coming from the back of the building towards the door before it was opened by a tired looking Pavel. His blonde hair was a little longer than when he left the flagship, he must have let it grow out. Those bloodshot blue eyes lit up as the smaller man processed who was standing on his doorstep.

"Leonard, you came." The blonde sounded extremely tired confirming the CMO's suspicion that he hadn't been sleeping well.

"I told you I would. Now, are you going to let me in or are we going to stand here and let the reporters tell tall tales about us?" he joked.

Laughing slighting, Pavel moved out of the way to let the older man in. Shutting the door he led him toward the back of the house. "Zey hawe already done zat. Mr. Vest and I had a press conference that you vould be coming and zen ve vould leave after the trial. Zey seem to zink ve are lowers," the blonde sighed.

"Reporters should stick to reporting facts and actual news, not gossip," Leonard snarled. This was exactly what he had been trying to avoid on the Enterprise. Pavel didn't deserve to have his name dragged through the mud all over again!

Stopping by a guest bedroom so Leonard could leave his suitcase there to deal with later, the two then went towards what had to be the Pavel and the kids' room. They wandered through an open doorway where the older man stopped for a second while the younger continued in. Leonard drank in the sight of the kids instantly toddling towards their mother. If his math was right then the twins were close to a year old and being part Vulcan probably helped them develop at either a normal or just above the normal rate of a fully human child.

"Lyusya, Vitaliy, zis is Leonard. He is my friend and vill be liwing viz us for a vhile," Pavel said as he picked them both up at the same time before walking over to the older man. Obviously he had practiced that move quite a bit.

The twins stared at the brunette wordlessly, as if accessing whether or not the doctor was worthy of being in the presence of their mother. Suddenly they both reached out and started to poke at his arms with just one finger each. Raising his eyes to the parent he received a bright smile.

"Zey like you," Pavel reassured him. "Zey vould not touch you ozervise."

"Do they know how to talk yet?" Leonard asked. His Joanna had been talking a mile a minute, even when she could only babble.

"Yes, but I beliewe zat zey do not speak often because of zeir Wulcan heritage."

"That's a good theory, most Vulcan's I've seen are like mimes. Except for that one Vulcan elder, he can talk up a storm if you let him."

"Vhich elder?" Pavel tilted his head to the side.

"The one that Commander Spock and Captain Kirk are always talking about. I heard he was nearly thrown out of a council meeting because he was trying to clear your name," Leonard reported. He had heard Kirk and Spock talking about it the last time they left New Vulcan.

"Vell I guess not all Wulcan's are taking ze Commander's side," the Russian gave a smirk at the fact that it must vex the Commander that an elder of his race is saying he is wrong.

Feeling a tug on his sleeve Leonard looked down to see Lyusya holding the fabric in a tight grip. Looking back to Pavel, the blonde shrugged.

"She vants you to hold her."

"How do you know that?"

"Wulcan family bond zing. Dr. Edvards explained it once."

Cautiously, Leonard took the small girl from her mother's arms and held her close to his chest, much in the same way he had done for his own daughter when she was this size. For a few seconds the little black haired girl shifted and fussed before settling in his arms and began inspecting him from her new vantage point. Pavel laughed at Leonard's bewildered look as he lightly bounced Vitaliy, adding a set of giggles into the mix.

"Vell zey definitely like you!"

Seeing how Pavel's entire demeanor changed when in the presence of his children, and the fact that they accepted the doctor, filled the southern man with a sense of joy. The blonde deserved a little bit of happiness after all the hell he had been through.

"So, you have any food in this place? If you do, let me see it; I'll cook us something while you take it easy. Don't think I can't tell that you're dead on your feet," Leonard grinned which then had Lyusya poking at his cheek, specifically at the barely noticeable dimples.


	16. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 15_

Throughout the trial against Pavel's now ex-husband, Leonard found it incredibly hard to not jump over the railing and beat the ever living hell out of the ass. The entire time the guy tried to play down the fact that he had abused Pavel! It was an accident, he didn't mean to do it, Pavel chose to stay at home instead of going to the office like what he used to. It disgusted him even more that the man's father and several employees that were clearly coached, or they were just too blind to see who the monster really was! Thankfully, Pavel's lawyer was amazing at his job. Mr. West asked questions that the answers incriminated David, he presented damning, legitimate evidence, and called many reliable witnesses that focused on the actions of Pavel and David before and during their relationship.

Needless to say Mr. West won that case.

Now Leonard, Pavel, and the twins were back on Earth again after yet another fear inducing shuttle ride. Leonard really hated flying.

With a shove Leonard dislodged the stuck wooden door from the frame giving him entry into the extremely unused apartment. He had bought this apartment after the Nero thing so that he would be close to Starfleet if he was needed, but still far enough away that he wouldn't run into cadets or other Starfleet annoyances.

Flicking on the lights the doctor took in the heavy layers of dust and grime covering every surface with a strong sense of disgust. This would have to be cleaned before they could move in, no way was he going to let Pavel or the twins live in this mess.

"Vhat does it look like?" the Russian asked.

"Like a dust utopia," he groaned. "We'll have to clean this out before even thinking of moving in."

Pavel put the twins, still in their double stroller, in park on the surprisingly intact porch. Walking over to Leonard, he looked around him and wrinkled his nose in distaste. It was a good thing that the moving van didn't have to be returned for a while.

"Vell, go to ze store and get cleaning supplies. Ze faster ve get zis done, ze faster ve can mowe in and return ze truck," he reasoned.

With a nod the southern man went jogging toward where Pavel guessed there was a grocery store. While waiting, Pavel started moving boxes to the porch. Not a lot, just a few boxes that he could lift on his own and he knew wouldn't get in the way if they had to move any furniture.

Hearing a noise behind him after placing a box, Pavel turned to see the twins had gotten out of their stroller. For the sixth time. At least they stayed in their car seats, but they always got out of the stroller.

"Vhy did you do zat?" the now, again, single parent sighed.

"Mama," the two said while slowly toddling toward him.

A bright smile lit up Pavel's face. This was the first time his prince and princess were taking the initiative in both talking and walking. Normally they only did so after a lot of prodding on Pavel's part. Vitaliy reached him first and latched onto his right leg, giving a small smile up at him. Lyusya, just a fraction slower than he brother, fell onto his left leg. She fisted his pant leg in her small hands and though her face was blank, her eyes shone with determination and love. Grinning Pavel bent down and picked up both overall and green shirt wearing children in his arms. He could feel their love for him and how happy they were to be far away from David.

"Mama lowes you too," he said to them.

"I think I missed something." Leonard chuckled with a raised eyebrow.

"Ze walked and talked vizout my prompting zem!" the blonde replied with a little pout.

"And I missed it? I wanted to catch that on camera!" With a dramatic sigh Leonard placed his bags of cleaning supplies by the door. He fished out masks for all of them, even some for the twins, and made sure everyone had them on properly. "Alright, I'll start first, then you can go in while I take a break and watch the kids. That good with you?" He turned to Pavel to await his answer.

Shaking his head the blonde gave the twins to Leonard. "No, I vill go first. You vatch zem. Be careful, zey are sneaky." With that Pavel picked up his dirt and grime fighting tools and charged into the apartment.

Blinking, Leonard looked down at the small faces that were staring right back at him.

"Your mama is a strong man, but really weird too." Leonard sighed as the two started poking at the masks on their faces and the one on his face while large plumes of dust started coming out of the door and the newly opened windows. "And we're back to the poking."

The twins paused for a few seconds before Lyusya put her hand on the doctor's cheek and Vitaliy took hold of a lock of hair and gently tugged on it. Sighing, Leonard sat down on the steps and waited for Pavel to tired himself out. He placed each child on his lap and let them poke and prod at the duster he had grabbed from the bag. For a moment he wished Joanna had been this easy to deal with. Lyusya and Vitaliy were so easily absorbed in whatever they were investigating that all he had to do was find something they didn't know about and show it to them, they would be entertained for hours. Or at least for as long as it takes for them to figure out what the item was and what it was used for. Well he couldn't change the past, and even if he could, he wouldn't bother trying.

Suddenly the duster hit him in the forehead. He shook it off and blinked at the giggling children in his arms. Well, quarter Vulcan's definitely acted different compared to half and full Vulcans.


	17. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 16_

It took forever, but finally everything was unpacked and the apartment was livable. Between the two of them, Leonard and Pavel managed to clean the entire building and move all the things from the moving van into the building. After that they went out to a kid friendly restaurant in town for dinner as neither of them were willing to cook after all the work they had done. Then it took about four days to get everything in the correct rooms, one day to make sure all the large items that needed to be pieced together were built and functioning properly, and then it took almost a week for them to unpack everything else. All the while they had to keep the twins entertained and out of the way. Nap time was truly a blessing in regards to the unpacking process.

Now the apartment wasn't anything real special. Leonard owned half of a tan building which allowed him to have two floors and an attic, which he tried to keep as empty as possible ever since the roof leaked once. On the ground floor, starting from the front door, there was a pale yellow painted living room with one brown couch that was in decent condition, a flat screen television, and several bookcases now filled with medical texts, children books, and the fantasy and mystery novels that Pavel liked. There was also the kitchen which was the only room in the apartment besides the bathrooms that had tile floors and light green walls. There were actual kitchen appliances and a wooden table with matching chairs so every possible meal would be made, none of that replicator stuff even though there was one if they needed it, and a back door leading to the small backyard that in reality was too small for the twins to play in. On the second floor there were two bedrooms and a shared master bathroom to match the half bathroom on the first floor. One bedroom was Leonard's, it was smaller with grey walls and the same hard oak wood floors found throughout the living space. The furniture was all wooden and fairly simple and Leonard made sure to keep his room very organized. Pavel got the intended master bedroom to share with the twins. Finally he was getting them to sleep in their separate cribs so that he could sleep alone in the large bed that Leonard let him have.

It was a quiet day for the roommates. They had slept in and Leonard made a late brunch that consisted of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Much to the adults surprise the twins actually ate the small bits of bacon that they insisted on having with their other small portions. Apparently quarter Vulcans had no qualms about eating meat, thought Leonard would watch them like a hawk to make sure there weren't any bad reactions to the fried meat. After the twins' bath they were dressed in matching jean shorts and red T-shirts, then brought out onto the front porch for some fresh air. After Pavel made sure that everyone had sun bloke on.

Leonard grinned as he watched Lyusya and Vitaliy figure out that they could spell things with the blokes they were building with. They started spelling out words they knew and some they saw during their bed time stories. When they got bored of that they started to connect the words as if they were filling in a crossword puzzle. The doctor himself was reading his way through the morning newspaper in a pair of blue jeans and a green T-shirt while sitting across the steps in case the twins got any ideas. Pavel was sitting in one of the two wicker chairs with a mystery novel open on his lap dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a dark purple T-shirt. With the sun out it truly was a perfect day.

Then Leonard's PADD went off.

Pavel curiously looked up; it wasn't often that either of them received messages on their PADDs, most of the time it was a doctor or Mr. West looking for the Russian. Sighing, Leonard set his paper on his lap and reluctantly picked up the device. His scowled at the name on the screen. Vaguely, he wondered about how much trouble he could get in for ignoring Uhura's communication.

"Is there a reason you're contacting me on my vacation, Lieutenant Uhura?" he scowled at the furious looking woman.

"I want to know about those protected communications," she snapped. Pavel visibly flinched which reminded the doctor to keep the small family out of the camera shot.

"I don't have to tell you anything and watch you're tone, Lieutenant. I out rank you and have a lot more connections than you do." There was something very satisfying in seeing a flash of fear on her face.

"You wouldn't."

"I can and will. You're not that best thing to happen to the universe and I don't have to cater to you." With a vicious smile he raised a hand to wave, "Now stop bothering me, I still have a week before I have no choice, but to put up with you." He disconnected the call before she could respond.

"I did not know I vas causing you problems," Pavel said quietly, his voice easily heard due to them living in a calm and quiet area. His accent finally seemed to be softening too.

"Not you, just idiots who think they need to know everything in the ship. She probably just wants to know to either rat me out or spread more rumors about me." The southern man shrugged his shoulders, not really bothered by it anymore. He was too used to it by now, and he always ranted about the idiocy in the privacy of his medbay.

"If you are certain zat it vas not because of me," the blonde trailed off.

"I'm certain, Pavel," he chuckled. "By the way, that Mr. West guy? He's made it so that Joanna can visit me now. Would it be alright if she can over for a weekend?" His voice was filled with so much hope that Pavel found it impossible to deny him. The smile he got in return made him all the happier, Leonard was one of the few people that Pavel could make happy other than his babies.

The PADD pinged again and the CMO groaned. Picking it up again he accepted the call.

"What now, Christine?"

"Heard through the grape vine that you were getting contacted. Everything alright over there?" Christine asked. Her statements were vague meaning that there was someone in medbay that wasn't on their side.

"Fine here, just had to give a reminder on regulations." Translation: Uhura got verbally slapped across the face.

"Ah, alright. Best wishes, I'll talk to you when you get back."

"You are quite popular today, should I be jealous?" the young parent joked.

"Only if you plan on ruining all my hard work," the older man sniffed.

"Oh, and vhat vork is zat?"

"Oh, just working on gaining support for you on the Enterprise. All of medical and about half of engineering wish you and the twins well by the way."

Pavel blinked several times to rid himself of the tears that had gathered in his eyes. So there were still people, other than Leonard, who believed him.

Vitaliy was suddenly standing next to Leonard and staring at him. Then he raised his arms and said, "Up."

With a grin Leonard complied. Lyusya toddled over to Pavel and demanded for the same thing.

Such a peaceful day.

Then the PADD went off again nearly causing Leonard to curse and Pavel to laugh.


	18. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 17_

"What do you say to a picnic in the park?" Leonard asked the day after his PADD kept going off. He swore it was like everyone and their mother had been trying to talk to him.

"Zere is a park near here?" Pavel asked as he bounced gently while holding two fussing babies.

Vitaliy had taken a spill while trying to climb onto the couch, his momentum causing him to hit his head on the floor. There was no damage, except a rather good sized bump on the back of his dark brown hair covered head. Still, the little boy had been quiet when it happened and when Leonard had checked him out. Then suddenly he sniffled and started making quiet hiccup noises as his breath hitched and tears fell from his eyes. At that the same time, Lyusya started to do the exact same thing. Pavel had instantly appeared in the room scooping them up into his arms, bouncing, rocking, making shushing noises, and whispering comforting words to them. Leonard, knowing this was the first time either of the twins had shed tears, felt a little guilty about taking a picture. To rationalize it he thought of how infrequent this would happen due to their Vulcan genetics. Then again, the twins had picked up emoting more due to all the time they spend with Pavel and Leonard so maybe there was hope for them having emotional ranges larger than a teaspoon after all.

"Yeah, about ten minutes that way," the doctor pointed down the road toward the town, "It's nice and family friendly, lots of kids running around all the time. I used to study there since almost no one at Starfleet bothered to go that far out for entertainment."

Pavel looked at his kids who had calmed significantly, but one could still be heard their hitched breathing every now and then. They were dressed in matching blue shorts and green and white striped T-shirts that Pavel had put them in that morning.

"Let me clean zem up first. You can pack ze picnic." With that the younger man went out of the living room and up the stairs to his bedroom.

Chuckling, Leonard made his way to the kitchen. He started with the baby food, the twins refused to have just formula anymore so they compromised and took Dr. Edwards' advice in just giving them what they wanted. A part of Vulcan genetics was apparently knowing exactly what their body needed, that and Pavel could sometimes tell through the bond. Once the dry cereal, carrot bits, and other things the kids liked were put together, Leonard started in on his and Pavel's food. Sandwiches; turkey and cheese with a little mustard on white bread for the Russian and a nice BLT for the southern man using some of the left over bacon from that morning. He put some finger food vegetables in a container for them to munch on then proceeded to make a peanut butter based dip and something similar to that ranch dressing stuff sold in stores, but his homemade version tasted at least ten times better.

"Ready to go?"

Turning around Leonard saw Pavel had indeed finished washing the twins faces, gotten their shoes on and put on his own. The breeze drifting through the windows carried the scent of sun screen towards him.

"Just need to put all this in a basket and gab some water bottles and juice boxes and then we're good." He did just that and they were off after he threw on some shoes. Leonard held the basket and Lyusya's hand as she was determined to walk and Pavel carried Vitaliy and a bag with toys and baby things.

The street was quiet except for the occasional greeting sent to them from a porch. One of the elderly women, Mrs. Charles, called out to them, saying it was so nice to see such a beautiful young family going out for a fun day. Pavel had smiled and wished her a good day while Leonard sighed at her. She was the only one on the entire street that refused to believe the two of them weren't married and had adopted or had a surrogate mother. Whatever let her sleep at night; they had stopped trying to tell her otherwise.

Making it to the park Leonard realized he had forgotten a blanket, but Pavel just laughed at him before pulling a blanket out of the baby bag. With a smile Leonard had Lyusya watch the basket while he laid out the blanket before moving all of them onto it.

Out came the food and drinks.

Pavel looked around the park with interest. The grass was a nice lush green and there were plenty of trees dotting the border so all the children running around knew where the park ended and the street started. Like the CMO had said there were plenty of families around doing the same as they were, and kids laughing and playing. The area was spacious and wide open allowing for constant supervision to be easy and uninterrupted. It was nice here, and Pavel would definitely be bringing the twins here more often. There were even some families that lived on their street here!

"So you happy we can out here?" Leonard asked as he watched Vitaliy like a hawk as the boy toddled around on the blanket.

"Yes, it is nice here. I vill make sure to bring ze children here more often." Pavel smiled as he saw Lyusya tug her brother back to the blanket when he got a little over a foot away from it.

"Sounds nice. You think you can do that and work at the same time?" Leonard inquired.

The young parent had recently, as in two days ago, found a job as a part time employee for a company that worked with computers and other technology. This same company also did work for Starfleet, but Pavel had made it a part of his contract that he was not to be sent there due to the restraining order placed on him. Of course that meant that he had to explain why there was a restraining order against him. Thankfully the employer understood the situation and allowed the condition. He even said that if the young man was lucky, the Commander would forget about the restraining order and not renew it before it expired.

"I believe I can. I received my schedule yesterday. I start next veek, vorking from seven in ze morning to one in ze afternoon. I should be fine," Pavel said.

"You never know. This job could drain you more than you think it will. It's a good thing I'll be around long enough to help you adjust, but after that you'll need either a babysitter or a nanny," the brunette reasoned. He wouldn't be around forever to help take care of the twins.

"Maybe I could ask ze Jacksons if zey could watch Lyusya and Vitaliy while I vork," the blonde contemplated aloud.

The Jacksons lived in the other half of the apartment building that Leonard and Pavel lived in. They had a five year old girl and a two year old boy. The whole family was relatively nice.

"I'd suggest having the kids meet them. We want them to be comfortable with whoever watches them." They didn't want them to react like they had with Pavel's ex-husband.

"True, I vill have to set something up vile you are still here." For a second the young blonde seemed so sad that the older man was leaving soon.

"Hey, you can always call me if you need me. I'll make time for you." He smiled and placed a hand on Pavel's shoulder. "We still get to see Joanna too. I'm not leaving until Wednesday."

They smiled at each other. Might as well spend the time they had left together enjoying each other's company and spending time with both of their children.


	19. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 18_

Pavel watched from his spot on the couch as his twins toddled around the living room carpet in their matching green T-shirts and blue jean overalls. The two had taken an interest in Pavel's laser pointer a few weeks ago and still hadn't tired of the device. One of them would point the red dot at something and the other would try to say what it was, if neither knew then they would both look to their mother for the answer. Now, this may seem strange and boring to some, but in reality the Vitaliy and Lyusya were learning more words and objects. They loved learning, which was why Pavel could never get them to listen to a different story if they couldn't read the current one on their own. After a quick visit to Dr. Edwards it was discovered that both of his children were geniuses by human standards. Ever since then Pavel had a proud smile firmly planted on his face and encouraged his prince and princess to learn as much as they wanted, which was a lot.

Today was Friday, the day that Leonard's daughter would come over and stay for the weekend. The doctor had spent the entire morning and previous night running around making sure that everything was absolutely perfect for her arrival. Now the man was off to at the shuttle port picking her up.

The father and daughter pair should be arriving any second now. Then the five of them would have a relaxing day at the apartment with movies and a homemade dinner courtesy of Leonard. While Pavel could cook, the two adults had figured that it would be better if Joanna had something she was familiar with and not the mainly Russian cuisine that the younger man could make.

A car door closed and voices started getting closer to the front door. Smiling at the sound of Leonard's laugh, Pavel stood up, picking up the twins, and waited for the two at the front door.

The door opened and Leonard let a young girl that in the young parent's opinion looked like a lighter colored, younger, female version of the CMO.

"Joanna, this is Pavel and his kids, Lyusya and Vitaliy. Pavel, this is my little girl Joanna," Leonard introduced.

"Hello, Joanna. It is a pleasure to meet you." The Russian smiled at the young girl in greeting. He would have shaken her hand, but his were currently occupied by two curious little quarter Vulcans.

"Hi," she replied.

"I'll show you where you can sleep. We're having your favorite dinner tonight so you rest up if you need to." With that Leonard pulled his daughter away.

As they left up the stairs, Lyusya pointed the laser pointer at Joanna's back. Vitaliy said her name slowly right before they turned to look up at their mother.

"Zat vas Joanna. She is Leonard's daughter," he informed them. Happy the two went on with their game; it was Vitaliy's turn to point.

* * *

Now, he may be oblivious a lot of the time when it came to people, but Pavel wasn't stupid. He could tell that Joanna was uncomfortable around him and the twins. She had probably wanted to be alone with her father. Then again, there was no telling how much she had been told of his situation.

Currently Pavel was returning from picking up the twins at the Jacksons' unit after getting off training for work. He loved that his children were comfortable with the small family, though he was a little annoyed that they forced the twins to play games that were below their intelligence levels even after he had told them that the twins were geniuses. Other than that he was happy; with the Jackson's and work. He loved that he was fixing things and helping people in a way that made him feel useful and appreciated. There were a shocking amount of beings that had no clue about electronics or any type of engineering that could help them with their problems. Well, to him at least. Problems that were mindlessly simplistic for Pavel were apparently difficult to others.

The young blonde walked with a spring in his step as he entered the apartment and went up to his room. Joanna and Leonard were in the living room playing a board game. The doctor gave a greeting which Pavel returned in kind. Changing into some jean shorts and a blue tank top, Pavel quickly returned downstairs to the kitchen with the twins and packed a small lunch for the three of them which he put in the baby bag. Happily, the young man slung the bag over his shoulder and picked up the twins.

"Going to ze park," he called as he exited the apartment.

He was looking forward to teaching his prince and princess some new games that didn't involve the laser pointer.

* * *

For the past few weeks the entire crew of the Enterprise had been walking on egg shells. The captain was almost always in a sore mood, snapping at anyone that went against his orders. The first officer was just as bad! If someone did just one thing wrong, even if it was superficial and didn't affect missions or the task the person was working on, the Vulcan would chastise them to the point that the victim would cry. The communications officer was constantly snapping at anyone she could get away with doing it to. To make matters worse, the CMO was still on his leave and wouldn't be back for a few more Earth standard days. So there was no one to put the others in their places or fix physical injuries the way he did, even if the entirety of the medbay was filled with extremely competent medical staff.

Christine avidly wished for the doctor's return, but knew that he would get in trouble if he came back just to tell everyone that they were being idiots.

Currently the Starfleet flagship was heading toward Earth after a mission that had a shocking lack of injuries; or deaths. So it was with great surprise that the crew learned they were heading back to Earth earlier than expected.

Christine hoped this had nothing to do with the computer problem that Spock had discovered the day before. She knew for a fact the Pavel was rooming with Dr. McCoy who had an apartment close to Starfleet headquarters. It wouldn't be good for the young parent if someone from the Enterprise saw him, especially since Leonard said that he seemed to be getting back on his feet.


	20. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 19_

Sunday, the last day that Joanna would be staying, and Pavel couldn't be happier. The girl was sweet in her own right, polite, and certainly charming just like her father. Yet Pavel was acutely aware that she didn't like him, nor his price and princess. Now many would think he was over reacting, but when she blatantly asked him if he stole his children from someone else and gave him a dirty look at the same time; well needless to say Leonard put her in her place right quick for apparently believing everything her mother said was true. She had grudgingly apologized, but the Russian knew she only did it because she was told to.

Not the best way to start friendships.

Either way, it was Sunday. Today was the day Leonard and Pavel had planned to take all of the children to the zoo that was only a few hours away from the apartment. After that disastrous Saturday night, it was determined that Leonard would take Joanna one way and Pavel would take the twins the other way. They would go their separate ways, meet up for lunch at one of the restaurants, then depending on how tired the kids were they would either spend more time in the zoo or visit the gift shop and head back to the apartment.

More than anything the younger parent just wanted to spend time with his twins in a place they would obviously enjoy. They would be so excited at the concept of learning so much in one day that they would probably demand to come back again. That meant the young man would either have to get a driver's license and a car or get a permanent bus pass for him and the twins. Doing some quick calculations; the bus passes were cheaper in the long run.

Once Pavel was left with the twins to wander the zoo, the blonde happily brought Lyusya and Vitaliy to their first ever animal exhibit, the zebras. Immediately the two were absorbed in learning. They pointed and questioned in their short sentences; that were still extremely advanced for their young age since they were using more nine lettered words and were starting to copy his accent, which was just too adorable! They demanded to be held so they could try reading the animal fact sign, pointing to words they couldn't pronounce yet. Then when they were finished at the zebras they stubbornly walked on to the next one, one twin on either side of him, each holding a hand.

As they left for the gazelles exhibit the blonde looked around briefly at the feeling of being watched. All around his happy little family were other parents that had looks that ranged from awed to sentimental.

Hadn't they ever seen a single father take his children out for the day?

Happily, Pavel let the actions from the zebra exhibit continue for every animal they went to look at. One mother, who seemed to take as long as him at each enclosure with her daughter, had asked him while the twins were distracted by the snow leopards why he encouraged them to question everything. He in turn asked her why he shouldn't encourage them. Apparently most parents these days didn't believe in answering all of the questions their children had. Something about how it was better to keep some things from them so they could discover things on their own.

"I do not understand. My children always try on zeir own first. Zen zey ask me if zey do not know, or cannot find ze answer." His head tilted to the side in his confusion. Lyusya, who had tuned into the conversation, tilted her head in the same direction while Vitaliy tilted his in the opposite mainly because his sister was doing it.

For some reason the woman didn't like his answer and stormed away with her daughter who was texting away on the newest PADD model that cost a ton of credits and for all the world looked bored beyond all belief.

With a shrug Pavel led his twins to the polar bears, repeating the learning process all over again. There were even moments where he learned something new about the animals which let he experience the joys of learning new things with his prince and princess.

Honestly, he couldn't be any happier at this moment.

In all honesty, Montgomery Scott was spitting mad. He was so mad one could say he was absolutely livid. What could possibly be the source of his ire? Well, quite simply put, the source was none other than his captain and first officer.

Never, in all his years, had the Scottish man been so frustrated and annoyed. Not even Marcus had been as bad as these two! Constantly, he was getting complaints from the other engineers about the Captain and First Officer blowing up at them for no reason, or making a big fuss over very small things that wouldn't affect the overall performance of the ship.

Now, for a while Scotty let this be. After all, they had just completed their first mission without their CMO and had also lost a good deal of people over the past year or so. It was understandable that the Jim and Spock would be antsy about getting back Earth side early. Yet the Lead Engineer couldn't have them picking on his division all the time! It was damaging moral and making it difficult to get any work done on his beautiful lady, the Enterprise! Like fixing that strange glitch in the systems, which he needed a hand with since was too busy trying to keep the peace. Already he was hearing some of his more experienced engineers talking about possibly leaving the Enterprise's crew.

This madness had to stop!

As he stormed to the meeting for division leaders, Scotty could feel his blood boil in righteous rage. How dare those two make his job harder than it already was! Keeping his lovely lady in top form was hard enough, not to mention his "non-existent" still; he didn't need to be convincing his fellow engineers to stay on board for at least the rest of their tour!

In his rage he absently noted that all this grief had started around the time that everyone thought Pasha had cheated on Spock. Suddenly, he stopped his storming thoughts to think on that. Pasha was a smart lad; he would know how important a Vulcan bond was and would never do a thing to jeopardize it. So why was he accused of cheating? What proof did Spock have that convinced his logical brain that he needed to break the bond and send the smart little Russian away? Then, when the lad was gone, the top two commanding officers and Uhura had started going on a rampage. Plus, Dr. McCoy had been acting strange, attracting the attention of all three. Apparently that doctor was a saint to have not killed any of them yet. Scotty himself was close to it if he was told one more time to do something that was impossible with the materials and information he had available to him.

Something wasn't right with the crew of his precious lady.

He would bet that it all revolved around sweet, little, banished Pasha.


	21. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 20_

After passing up a chess game with Spock, one James T. Kirk was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling of his personal quarters. It seemed like every time he was able to get some time to himself he would finally have a clear head. Yet, a clear head meant he could look at what he had done previously to cause him to seek solitude.

He thought of his actions toward the crew recently, how he had been yelling and nitpicking at every little thing. Nothing seemed right while he was around others, but when he was alone he realized that everything was fine. Well, fine except for the system problem which was steadily growing worse the longer they couldn't fix it.

Then his mind drifted to the last memories of Chekov on board the Enterprise. The kid had so much talent, so much drive to do good, and how he was forced to leave plagued the Captain's mind endlessly. The kid was smart so there was no way for him to not understand a Vulcan bond and what was expected. Hell, Jim was actually concerned for the little guy when he realized that he wasn't happy with his relationship. Of course, being the concerned captain that he was, Kirk went to Spock to try and find out his side, knowing that Chekov would not complain unless he was tricked into doing it. Everything between the two seemed to be based off of sex, though Spock did seem to be growing attached even if he denied it. Then something changed. Chekov was still the same, but there was a tension that settled around the crew and it was all focused on the poor kid.

He had no choice, but to send him away.

Still, Jim spent many nights sleepless because he tossed and turned thinking about the young Russian. He hadn't known about the restraining order Spock had put on the kid. He hadn't meant to make the poor kid's life and career miserable. With all the animosity, he had thought it would be safer for him to leave. Probably could have explained that better at the time, but he couldn't risk a mutiny on his hands either. His captaincy was shaky at best, the Starfleet Admiralty made sure to remind him that he was only captain because he was hailed a hero and Pike was dead. Low blows.

Rolling over onto his side the blonde sighed and closed his eyes, hoping he would get some sleep before he was needed for the docking at Starfleet Headquarters. Once he was done with his report he would see to getting someone to fix his ship and give the entire crew their shore leave. Including the illusive Bones.

* * *

Pavel smiled as he walked into the door of his new job. Leonard had told him that the Enterprise was coming in and that he was given his normal shore leave until a system failure was fixed. So the younger man left his prince and princess in the capable hands of the doctor and walked to work.

"Good morning, Sir," Pavel greeted at he walked past his boss towards the back where he would start working on the repairs left from Saturday.

"Morning, Pavel," the man replied with a wave and smile. He was a short man with a slightly rounded figure and a balding head of salt and pepper hair. Daniel Krinard Jr. was the fourth generation of his family to own and operate this repair shop and he was proud to say that he was the one who landed the Starfleet connection. Anyone from Starfleet would get a discount on repairs. Plus, his staff was knowledgeable on all forms of repairs and trained to cover almost anything imaginable. Thus he occasionally sent someone over to fix a ship every once in a while.

To say Pavel Chekov was a diamond to him was putting it mildly. Genius level smarts and young with smart kids of his own, the own man knew who he would pass the shop to in his will. Providing the Russian continued his employment at his shop until then of course. Being married with kids who were completely uninterested in the shop meant that Daniel needed to find someone outside of the family to give it to if he wanted Brilliant Repairs to last past his lifetime.

"Anything new I should know about?" Pavel asked as he started on a computer.

"Starfleet flagship came in with a strange bug in the system. No one can figure it out from what I hear. Probably gonna get a call either today or tomorrow about it," Daniel mused as he fixed yet another PADD. He seriously wondered how people were able to discover almost every problem imaginable for the things, but were too lazy to do the easy fixes themselves. All well, more money for the business.

"I vonder vhat it could be," the Russian hummed as he finished the computer and moved onto a replicator.

"No clue, but if we do get a call, I'll go in since I'm the only one on duty today that can go."

The younger man gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry, if ze Enterprise vas not docked I vould wolunteer to go."

"I understand; no harm, no foul. I'd rather you not get into trouble and end up having to leave my employment." The elder man left out that he would probably never find someone as perfect for the job as Pavel was.

The old cordless wall phone rang and Daniel answered it with a fond smile. Original working phone that came with the building; he liked to use it as the business line so that he had a number for people to call.

Why fix what isn't broke?

Just an old fashioned form of communication. No need to replace it with something new just because it was old.

Pavel puttered in the back, getting the high priority items fixed and marked appropriately. Each item had a card taped to it with the customer's name, arrival time, device problem, and a color coded sticker. Red was for high priority, orange was medium priority, pink was low priority, yellow was incomplete, and green was finished. There weren't too many red stickers, so Pavel would move onto the last one after the replicator before starting on the orange stickered cards since there were no yellows."

"Pavel, I'm heading out to a customer, high priority. Security system glitch making it so the scanner doesn't recognize the residences of the home. If Starfleet calls or has someone stop by, take down the information and I'll take care of it when I get the chance," the boss called as he gathered his things and ran out the door.

"Vill do!" the blonde yelled back. He finished the replicator reprogramming, tested it, and then placed a green sticker on the card. Next on the list was a company issued PADD that had erased all of the contact information without prompting. After he would work on medium priority things based on how long the item had been sitting in the store. Thankfully there were enough intelligent people working at the shop that most devices were fixed in under three days.

The office phone went off and Pavel walked over and picked it up while continuing to work. Raising quarter Vulcan children that were extremely curious helped one learn to multitask accurately.

"Brilliant Repairs. How can ve fix your day?" What a fun twist on the shop slogan of "We'll fix your day."

"This is Captain Kirk, I was told to call this number so someone can take a look at my ship."

Pavel felt his heart freeze at the voice of his old captain. Shaking his head, he grabbed an index card and wrote down the young captain's name, the ship's name and time of call.

"Vhat is ze problem vith your ship?" The young parent cringed at his still noticeable accent which he was pretty sure would never go away.

Listening to Kirk list off the problems and his theories as to the actual cause of the problems, Pavel wrote it all down on a sheet of notebook paper.

"So how soon can you get here?" Kirk asked.

"I am sorry; I am not allowed to do zis job for you. Our only available technician left on another call a short vhile ago. I vill give him your information vhen he returns and have him call you vhen he is on his vay over," Pavel responded with a pounding heart.

"What do you mean you can't come over? You have to know something if you work there."

"For your information, Sir; I am forbidden from vorking on Starfleet ships."

There was silence for a few moments in which time Pavel finished fixing the company PADD and placed a finished sticker on the card. He had even recovered all of the lost information.

"Sir, are you still zere?" he cautiously asked when the silence finally got to him. With Lyusya and Vitaliy talking he had grown accustomed to some kind of noise at all times.

"You wouldn't happen to be Pavel Chekov would you?" Damn that smart man.

"Vhat gave it away? Ze accent?" he asked with a bit more venom than he had intended. After all, when the day was done, Kirk was a paying customer.

"A little bit, yeah. Damn Spock and that restraining order. What would I have to do to make it so you could come and fix the Enterprise?"

Pavel blinked at the wall opposite from where he leaned on the counter. He certainly hadn't expected that.

"Commander Spock vould have to be off Starfleet premisise until I vould be done. Zough I vill still have to vait for the other person to come back. Zis sounds like it may need more zan one person to look at it." It was also convenient that the old phone came with an old answering machine which recorded any jobs that came in while they were gone. There was also a drop off box in front of the building and cards for people to fill out if they were able to drop the broken device off.

"I'll be able to do that. Give me a call when you're about t leave. Oh, and Chekov?"

"Yes?" What was the older blonde going to say now?

"I'm sorry for how things worked out. I sent you away to get you away from the rest of the crew thinking you would be safe. You have to believe me when I tell you I had no idea Spock had filed a restraining order." The Starfleet Captain's voice sounded like a plea.

A vicious part of Pavel wanted to tell the other to shove it, but forced himself to think things through before answering. "I understand your reasoning, but I do not forgive your actions. Someone vill call vhen ve are about to leave for Starfleet Headquarters."

As he hung up he heard about half of his last name being called out of the hearing part of the phone. Sighing Pavel went back to work, waiting for Daniel to come back so they could talk about what to do.


	22. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 21_

Jim nervously waited for the return call from Chekov. Now that was a hard pill to swallow. The blonde captain prayed that the small Russian wouldn't refuse to fix the Enterprise because of what had happened to him.

His guilty conscious was eating him alive right now.

To get his mind off of his guilt over Chekov, he started to plan on how exactly to distract Spock. How would he get the Vulcan off campus? Maybe he could convince the man to come with him to visit a memorial or something. That stuff was off of the Starfleet campus and hopefully the half Vulcan would allow him to drag him away without complaint.

The ringing of his communicator nearly scared him to death, causing him to jump out of his chair. Seeing the name, he quickly answered.

"Captain Kirk here," he answered.

"Hello, Captain. I'm Daniel Krinard from Brilliant Repairs. You called earlier about having someone come take a look at your starship, the Enterprise, am I correct?" a man on the other end greeted.

"Yes, I was wondering how fast someone could get here," he inquired.

"You spoke earlier with an employee of mine. You expressed an interest in accommodating said employee if they were the only one available to do the job."

"Indeed I did." Idly, Jim started twirling a stylus and tapping his foot. He never could stay still for long.

"If you are able to go through with your early suggestion and provide someone from your engineering department to look at the problem with my employee, I believe I can have someone there in less than an hour," Daniel offered.

"You got a deal. Tell Chekov I'll have Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott meeting him at the front gate." Jim was doing a victory cheer in his head while he did a little dance in his on campus apartment.

"What makes you think the employee will be him?" At least he didn't try to deny that Chekov worked for him.

"I talked with him earlier, remember? Besides, he mentioned the obstacle keeping him away. I'll take care of it."

"In that case, have a good day Captain."

"You too."

Hanging up Jim speedily put on some shoes and ran off to find Spock. He needed to get him off campus or the Enterprise will never be fixed. Seeing Uhura on his path made him completely rethink his plan, which would have involved a large amount of chocolate which he currently didn't own. Charging toward Uhura, Jim hoped his new plan would work.

* * *

Pavel sighed as he finally made it to the front gate of Starfleet. Leonard had told him it was quite the walk to Starfleet from where they lived, but he had never before made the trek himself. Now he was certain that no one from Starfleet would see him around the area he now lived. It was much too far for a cadet or anyone staying on campus to travel.

Looking around he found the red uniformed engineer that he used to shadow on occasion.

"Hello, Mr. Scott," he greeted as he approached.

The Scotsman turned and smiled broadly at him. "Chekov! How are ya, Lad?"

"Better zen I have in a long vhile. How are you, Mr. Scott?" the younger man asked as he came to a stop in front of Scotty.

"Wish I could say the same." Scotty shook his head in obvious dismay. "But what are ya doing here, if you don't mind my asking?"

"My boss sent me. I am vith Brilliant Repairs." The single parent smiled at the startled laugh the engineer gave.

Together, they got Pavel through security and found their way to the Enterprise.

"I honestly dinna know what is wrong with her. Things just stop working, like the lift or even something unimportant like the locking mechanisms," Scotty complained.

"Hmm, vhere did this start occurring?" Pavel asked while pulling out his work PADD and started taking notes.

"Transports, I think. Caused more than a wee bit o trouble. I still cannae get them to work a hundred percent"

Making it to the transporters Pavel set about just observing for a moment to see if he could see something visibly before digging into the wires. Blinking, he leaned closer to the back seem of the transporter controls. Was that what he thought it was?

"Mr. Scott, Sir, have you seen zis?" He pointed to the seam.

Bending over close to the younger man, Scotty seemed to stare for a few seconds before he let out a startled gasp.

"Are those holes?" he asked in outrage.

"I believe ve need to open zis up to better know vhat ve are dealing vith."

Nodding, the Scotsman gently took out the screws. Taking the panel in hand he pulled it away slowly and very carefully. Finally getting a look at the inside both men stared in utter disbelief.

"What in the world?" Scotty muttered. "What are bugs doing in my precious lady?"

"Zose are Malvirum Beetles," Pavel breathed in wonder. "I remember Sulu talking about zem. Zey feed off of electromagnetic vaves as lava. Emit electric currents during adolescents zat interfere vith all forms of electronics. Vhen zey mature and mate ze emit sounds at a frequency zat cannot be heard, but have been proven to affect zey brain."

Scotty looked up startled after replacing the panel to minimize the possibility of all the bugs swarming. "You mean these things are messing with my head?"

"Emotions only. I read ze research on it. Ze sounds only affect emotions and emotional reactions. Nothing else," the younger man consoled. "Zere is also a select few who are not affected, but the research for zat has no been finished yet."

"What should we do?" the uniformed man asked nervously.

"I am a repairman, maybe a maintenance man, but I am no exterminator." Pavel shook his head, unknowingly sounding just the slightly bit like Leonard, "In my opinion, you need to get a professional bug killer here and check the entire ship. If zey started here vithout detection, zere is no telling how large the colony has gotten since introduction."

"You mean there are more?" In his panic, the older man's brogue became extremely thick.

"Certainly. Call an exterminator. Zese are extremely dangerous creatures to have on a starship," the ex-navigator lectured as he pulled out his communicator and called Daniel.

"How's the fix going, Pavel?" the elderly man asked as soon as he picked up.

"Ve need an exterminator. Zere are Malvirum Beetles nesting in ze transpoter controls and vho knows vhere else on zis ship," the Russian reported.

"Oh, hell. Tell me you're joking," Daniel said in a strained voice.

"Unfortunately no. Zis infestation could break ze universal record for largest nest," Pavel said seriously.

"Damn. Get out of there and check yourself for bugs. I'll call a buddy of mine. He just took a course on how to get rid of those things."

Hanging up with a quick goodbye the younger man ushered the Scot out of the starship. Thankfully they didn't have a single beetle form of any stage on them when they got out of there.

"So all this time it was nothing but bugs?" Scotty asked still in shock.

"Yes. It would seem ze Enterprise has quite a bad case too." The former crewmember placed a comforting hand on the engineer's shoulder. "She vill be cured soon zough. Just you wait and see, Mr. Scott"

Scotty looked at him before looking at something over his shoulder. Having a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach, Pavel turned around to see who was watching them. There stood a tall, elderly man who was clearly Vulcan in descent and was dressed in the clothes of someone very influential. He actually reminded the young man of Spock.

"When I heard that the Enterprise was having problems I came to see if I could offer some knowledge." He walked toward them and stopped right next to Pavel. "It seems I am not needed though. Are there really Malvirum Beetles nesting within the Enterprise?"

A chatty Vulcan, never expected to meet one and especially not like this.

Nodding, Pavel wondered why the elder was still there and looking at him with softened eyes. He heard Scotty behind him sending out a mass message to all of the crew to check for bugs and to warn any establishments they may have been to already.

"You are Pavel Chekov, yes?" Again, the Russian nodded. "I offer my deepest condolences for what you have gone through. I have been doing my best to convince the Vulcan Counsel to reconsider their ruling against you. It is illogical to pass judgment without a proper investigation and testimonies from both parties in question. I believe with the Malvirum Beetles being discovered I will now have more pull on the Council."

Blinking, Pavel nodded again and uttered a small thank you before the Vulcan left. He turned to Scotty with a confused look on his face.

"Vho vas zat?" he asked.

"Oh, right. You weren't there to hear that. That there is Spock from another timeline," the Scot replied before going back to his messages.

Pavel whipped back around to stare after the older version of the man that had caused him so much trouble. He was tempted to ask what he was like in the other universe, as this timeline was different than that man's meaning they are different universes, but decided against it. He didn't want to know what another him was like and morn how he would never become that. Lyusya and Vitaliy were his world now, and he was slowly getting used to the idea that exploring space wasn't in his future.


	23. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 22_

With an exterminator working on the Enterprise there was really no need for Pavel to stay and watch. Well, it was more like the exterminator took one look at the initial nest and called for backup which was now helping kill the technology destroying beetles. According to Mr. Scott the entirety of Starfleet was on high alert. Those exterminators would have a lot of business once they finished with the Enterprise. Apparently they were already asked to take a look around the entire campus.

"So now that we have nothing to do, what do you say to having a few drinks together?" Scotty asked as they ambled to the same gate Pavel had entered in earlier.

"I vould, but I am still on duty," the repairman reminded with a little smirk. He technically was still on the clock, for another ten minutes.

"Well what about after then?" the Scot asked.

The younger man shook his head. After work he was picking up Lyusya and Vitaliy from the Jacksons and then he was going to make dinner. It was movie night too so the three of them would be watching a movie after eating while Leonard would return from Starfleet whenever he was done with whatever he had to do. The doctor hadn't told him what he was going to do, but then again the man seemed extremely disappointed that his daughter and Pavel hadn't gotten along. When asked Leonard just said that it was her mother's genes showing through again.

"I have a prior engagement," he said with a gentle smile.

"Well, you tell me when you're free, yeah?" Scotty asked with a mild look of disappointment. "We'll have a few drinks and catch up."

"I vill. Do you still have the same information?" he asked. He knew all of the contacts on his old PADD by heart, but he hadn't saved any of them on the new one.

"Still the same." Scotty nodded.

Nodding, Pavel quickly opened his contacts list on his PADD and entered in the engineer's information.

"I vill contact you vhen I am free. Until zen, Mr. Scott." With a wave goodbye the young Russian went on his way. As soon as he was out of sight Pavel called Daniel to tell him he would be going straight home since the Enterprise had taken so much time. He would never make it back to the shop before closing. After that he opened up the application for his timecard and entered in his ending time. Then he called the Jacksons, he was going to be late in picking the twins up.

What should he make for dinner? He would be getting in later than usual and his prince and princess needed to be in bed in about three hours. The movie would be just over an hour long which left just under two hours to make and eat dinner. With a cheerful smile and a snap of his fingers Pavel knew what dinner would be. There was still some left over handmade soup from the night before so he would heat that up and make those little grilled cheese sandwich squares that the two liked to eat.

With a bit more spring in his step Pavel happily walked down the sidewalk in downtown as he made his way home. He pulled up a list on his PADD and scrolled through the movie titles. They were starting a new movie tonight and he wanted to pick a good one that would challenge the twins' minds and entertain them at the same time.

So busy with his list and options, the young Russian didn't notice two people across the street.

Sitting at a table outside a café were none other than one Commander Spock and Lieutenant Uhura. The two had gone there on the suggestion of their captain to "get some fresh air and have a moment to themselves like any couple would." So they had ordered a meal and a couple of drinks, truly enjoying their time together as they held long conversations that truly felt like they were understanding each other for the first time in a long time. Then out of the corner of his eye Spock had seen a familiar face that he had tried to forget.

Turning his head ever so slightly the Vulcan saw that indeed he had seen his former bondmate. Pavel Chekov looked healthy and content as he walked, looking down at his PADD as he strolled which showed he had a familiarity with his surroundings. The previously light blonde hair was darker than before and longer so it curled around his ears and neck. The Russian was dressed in a pair of light weight blue denim jeans and a yellow polo shirt that looked to be part of a uniform. His weight seemed to be a little below what he was when he left the Enterprise, but he didn't seem concerned or self conscious. In fact, Spock would even say that the Pavel was radiating confidence and self-assurance.

Then the blonde smiled that bright happy smile of his and Spock felt something ache inside of him.

"Spock, are you alright?" Uhura asked when it was obvious the half-Vulcan wasn't listening to her.

"I am satisfactory," he responded, turning his attention back to his girlfriend. Though he was truly wondering what they were to each other. While intelligent, Nyota was also very possessive. He vaguely remembered how she acted like she was a victim of an embarrassing prank when he announced that he was bonded to Chekov because of Pon Farr. She was so very angry.

"What distracted you then?" she asked.

"I was contemplating on how the Malvirum Beetles initially came aboard the Enterprise." That would save him. It was in the back of his mind anyway.

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I mean, their rare creatures aren't they?" Nyota asked.

"Malvirum Beetles can be found on only a select few planets. It was discovered that they were detrimental to electrical technology when a starship landed on one such planet and was infested." He remembered hearing about that when he lived on Vulcan.

"Exactly. We didn't go to any planets with a known beetle population so how could they have gotten on the Enterprise?"

"If I knew then I would have informed Starfleet."

The woman seemed put off by his easy dismissal, but he just couldn't bring himself to care. It had been proven that Malvirum Beetles played havoc on the minds of telepathic races. Spock couldn't help but wonder how many of his actions toward Chekov were affected by the beetles while on the Enterprise.


	24. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 23_

Leonard tried with all his might to not let his temper get the better of him. He had been called before that damn council of admirals so they could discuss his actions. This was a complete farce and they knew it!

"You left your post on board the Enterprise after having several altercations with both Captain Kirk and Commander Spock," one of those stuffed shirts said in an accusatory tone.

"I left to help a friend who was in need of my help, Sir." Those so called "altercations" were just arguments since nothing physical had ever happened. He wouldn't say that though since they would claim him to be argumentative.

"Yes, you used your accumulated personal time to visit Pavel Chekov who is no longer working for Starfleet," another admiral pointed out with a sneer.

"Last time I checked it wasn't against the rules to visit friends who are not employed by Starfleet during the usage of personal time, Sir," Leonard retorted. Take that!

"The fact remains that you left your post in the middle of the mission," the first admiral snarled.

"Actually Sir, when I was given the dates for my personal time the Enterprise and her crew were waiting for further missions. Also, judging strictly by how you stated that last bit of information, would it be correct that all of you believe that the rest of the Enterprise Medical could not have handled any situation that may have occurred in my absence?" Oh, they looked so angry.

"That is not what was meant," one of the older admirals growled.

"I should hope not, Sir. Seeing as the Enterprise only employs the best the Starfleet has to offer it would be a great insult to the entire medical crew if that were the case."

Ha! Take that! Let's see them get out of the corner they backed themselves into.

After a bit more back pedaling on the part of the council Leonard was finally free to go without losing his job. Where the hell did they get off telling him he couldn't have a friendship with Pavel or even leave the Enterprise for that matter! Oh, if they had taken action against him he would have sued them.

Looking up at the sky the doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was dark out with the moon getting pretty high in the sky. Damn, he missed both dinner and the movie. He was looking forward to actually eating with Pavel and the twins for the first time since the Enterprise docked. Stupid Starfleet council making him stay out past when he wanted to. He briefly debated going for a quick drink, but quickly shook the thought out of his head. He had promised Joanna that he would calm down on the drinking and he also didn't want those super smart twins seeing him drunk either.

"Hey, Bones!" Please God, don't do this to him.

Turning around Leonard cursed under his breath. Running towards him from the direction of the medical building was none other than James T. Kirk, infant extraordinaire. The Southern man really didn't want to deal with the brat right now. Well he couldn't escape him so all he had to do now was pray he didn't get annoyed enough to hit him.

"Hey, Bones, before you yell, or hit me, or whatever you want to do I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I was acting before you left," the kid rambled off as soon as he got near.

"Wait, what?" he asked stupidly.

"I just came back from getting tested. They found Malvirum Beetles nesting in the Enterprise. Anyone who showed a difference in emotions or actions compared to their usual personality are being tested to see if it was the beetles. I'm so sorry Bones, for everything! Apparently the beetles make me irritable and impatient causing me to make decisions that make the normal me look like a logical person. Oh, God. I ruined Chekov's carrier! I destroyed our friendship, and I'm such an idiot!" The blonde continued to ramble, pulling at his hair all the while.

"Hey, hey calm down." Leonard gripped his captain's shoulders as the man started to hyperventilate, "Get a hold of yourself Jim!" he yelled while slapping him across the face.

"You hit me." Jim stared at him.

"Damn right I did, you were hyperventilating. And you haven't lost my friendship ya infant. It also wasn't your fault for what happened to Pavel's career." Leonard let go of the man and ran his stinging hand through his hair, "It's all that hobgoblin's fault."

Jim looked at him in shock. "But, I should have done an investigation. I just pushed Chekov aside like it was nothing."

"Yeah, and Spock put a restraining order on him making it so he could never work at Starfleet. So you aren't completely to blame," the doctor growled.

"Bones, I heard the doctors saying something about Spock. How it's a miracle or something that he wasn't insane. The beetles are extremely dangerous to any type of telepath," Jim bemoaned.

Bones froze, he hadn't read about that in the journals. "You mean," he trailed off.

"Spock may not be responsible for his actions on the Enterprise," Jim finished for him.

Scowling, the brunette crossed his arms. "Well that doesn't mean he gets away with not fixing the damage he's caused. Pavel's gone through hell and back because of him."

"I don't disagree with you, Bones." Jim shook his head. "But think about it. If he wasn't in control of his actions then that means the restraining order can be lifted."

"Only if that one Vulcan on the council can get the case heard. Anything involving Pavel is automatically moved to the bottom of the 'get to' pile. Heck I know for a fact that several things concerning the kid haven't even been acknowledged by the Vulcan Council yet." Leonard shook his head this time, "Besides that, Pavel may not want to come back because of all that's happened to him."

At Jim's dismayed face the doctor knew what had to be done.

"Let's go to that pub we used to go to all the time for food and a drink."

* * *

"Nyota, we must speak about something," Spock said as they walked back to Starfleet after going to several restaurants and stores.

"What is, Spock?" she asked a little confused. They had had a wonderful evening together, really getting a chance to talk to each other. It frustrated her that this had been a suggestion from Kirk, he would probably have an infuriating smirk on his face when he was told how good the date was.

"The Enterprise was discovered to have a large number of nesting Malvirum Beetles on board, as you know." Oh, she knew and she was going to give Scotty a piece of her mind for interrupting them. "Those with telepathic abilities are highly susceptible to the effects the beetles cause. As such I request that we refrain from further excursions like this until it is proven that I have complete control over my actions."

The woman stopped and stared at him in silence. Was he breaking up with her?

"Are you saying you don't want to date anymore?" she asked.

Spock looked at her with the Vulcan expression of confusion. "I do not understand. We agreed to a separation when I became bonded to Mr. Chekov."

"And then you broke the bond," she growled back.

"I still do not understand how you believe us to be courting when neither of us have brought the subject into a conversation."

"What did you think we were doing today?" she snarled.

"I logically concluded that we were colleagues spending time together."

She didn't even try to resist the urge to slap him. So she hit him hard across the face. He had played her!

"Striking me is illogical as you never stated otherwise to the fact," he responded.

"I thought you wanted to date me!"

"Quite the contrary, you assumed I did. The Malvirum Beetles affected my mind thus I was not able to react logically to the situations I was faced with. If it had not been for that I would most likely still be bonded to Mr. Chekov."

She slapped him again and stormed off. How dare he treat her like this!

Spock watched her go and refrained from touching his twice abused cheek. He really didn't understand why she was so angry with him. Everything he had stated was logical. He needed to be sure he had full control of himself before he decided on a course of action for the future.


	25. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 24_

It had been a few weeks since the discovery of the Malvirum Beetles on board the Enterprise and Pavel was busily working his way through the stack of Starfleet issue PADDs that had been dropped off during the course of the week. Most of them weren't that bad off, just in need of a virus clean up or password reset. There were a couple that were shorted out somehow or were broken to the point that it was easier to give the customer a new one with the salvaged data from the old one transferred over. Technically he could work on some of the red tagged items, but he had the twins with him. It was easier to let them near inexpensive PADDs rather than the larger and more expensive things in the shop.

The Jacksons had gone on vacation the day before saying they would be back in a couple of weeks. The small Russian wasn't too worried seeing as there was always a steady supply of PADDs and other small electronics that could be worked on around the shop. By doing the little things he could do more turnover and make more room for new items. Also, he had worked out a deal with Daniel that he would work on only pink labeled items, including those that had a yellow sticker too meaning low priority and incomplete repairs, while he worked the front of the store. So he went throughout his short day working through the never ending pile of PADDs, taking items and customer information, sending the two employees in the back out on larger jobs, and entertaining the twins with a game that was meant for kindergarteners on Pavel's own PADD. His day was short because he had been working a lot over the past few weeks and earned himself some extra time off, which he was using to have shorter work days while the Jacksons were gone. That and Leonard was only free for one day which just happened to be today and they had plans to go to the mall.

He smiled when his prince and princess finished the last available level in the game. They obviously didn't like the score that they got and quickly restarted the level. Such adorable perfectionists.

Tinkling from the old bell on the door turned the young parent's attention to the shop front. There was a sight for sore eyes walking straight toward him with a brilliant smile.

"Pavel Chekov, I can't believe it's you. How are you? We have so much to catch up on!" Christine Chapel laughed as she pulled the blonde into a hug over the counter.

"Christine Chapel, you look wery good. Zings are going vell for me. Vhat about you?" The young man smiled at her as he was released from the hug.

"I'm ok, I got a message from Starfleet that my PADD was repaired already and thought I'd drop by to pick it up. I think Starfleet said they would pay for it." The woman laughed, "Seeing Starfleet issued it I'm pretty sure they will."

"Let me check." Pavel browsed through the section of completed items that were due to be picked up that day. "Chapel, Chapel, Chapel, ah-ha! I found it. Yes, Starfleet is paying for it. I just need to enter pick up into ze system and send ze bill and you can have your PADD back," Pavel said as he walked back to his chair which was placed between the computer on the counter and the phone on the wall. Rather nice how one didn't need to move too far from the computer to answer the phone.

"No problem, take your time. So this is what you're doing now. You like working here?" Christine chatted.

"Oh, yes. Zis place is vonderful," Pavel praised as he transferred the file on her PADD to the "Picked up" section of the system which then automatically sent off the corresponding bill to Starfleet. It had been his idea to rework the system so that in a few short steps files were created, moved, bills sent and received, and the accounting information for the business functions were mostly done automatically. Daniel had praised him for doing it seeing as it saved him time when payroll and taxes came around.

"What are you working on today? Leonard said you were like a maintenance man along with a bunch of other really smart people like you."

"I basically am. It is nice zough, a lot of people appreciate vhat ve do here." He smiled at the memory of the elderly man who had thanks him profusely for saving the pictures of his family from his destroyed PADD.

"Oh, who are these two?" the nurse leaned over the counter a bit to see Lyusya and Vitaliy consumed with their game.

"Zose are my children. Lyusya and Vitaliy are zeir names." He smiled with pride as they achieved a better score, but restarted for another shot at a perfect run. He would have to cut them off videogames after they managed it since their perfectionism was getting them addicted.

"They're so cute!" Christine giggled. The twins were wearing their jean shorts, red T-shirts, and matching black hats and shoes.

"Yes zey are. I am going to ze mall later to buy zem new clothes. I vant to be prepared seeing as zey are growing. I also vant to buy supplies to make a birthday cake. Zey vill be three in a few weeks."

"Oh, can I come along? For the mall and the birthday?"

"Yes to ze mall, and you can come to zeir birthday if ze Enterprise has not left."

The two smiled at each other before laughing as the twins excitedly showed their mother that they had completed the game perfectly.

* * *

Leonard had given Christine a bit of teasing when she showed up with Pavel at the mall saying she was being pushy again. Pavel just laughed and started walking towards the kids clothing store. He wanted to pick up a few items in case the twins went through a growth spurt. Of course he had to pick up doubles. He smiled as he listened to the two coworkers tease each other behind him while he led the way with Lyusya and Vitaliy each holding one of his hands.

After getting a few things they went to shoes since the twins would need something to grow into and he himself was in desperate need of some new shoes. Once done there they went to a toy store to get some building toys. Leonard started laughing when he saw the Legos, a toy company that had survived for centuries. Hearing how versatile and lasting the plastic pieces were, Pavel instantly bought some medium sized building sets so he and twins could do something other than puzzles and videogames.

It was amusing seeing as Christine and Leonard were holding the bags of not only their purchases, but Pavel's as well so he could keep his hands on the twins at all times. They were a lot of people and the young parent was worried that his prince and princess would get separated from him. After a few hours he could tell the two were too tired to walk on their own through the bond and picked them up at the same time in a practiced manner.

None of those in the party noticed a gobsmacked Jim Kirk sitting inside a coffee shop they were passing. Jim hadn't seen Christine since the ship had docked, tough that wasn't who he was staring at. No, Jim was staring at a happy, healthy looking Pavel Chekov with two cute as hell kids in his arms with their arms wrapped around his neck. Why in the world would the kid have kids with him? Was he babysitting? Then the little boy who he could see clearly, compared to his sister, shifted. Dark brown hair that was a little on the long side moved to reveal a tiny pointed ear.

Everything crashed into place. He didn't know exactly how, but those were Pavel's kids and if the pointy ears said anything then Spock was the other parent. He just needed to answer one very important question now that he knew this amazing fact.

How in the world had Pavel gotten pregnant?

Spock couldn't have been pregnant because he was on the Enterprise and someone would have noticed if he was carrying twins.

* * *

"Due to new evidence presented by Ambassador Selek it is only logical that the council voids the restraining order against Pavel Chekov," an elderly Vulcan announced to the council receiving nods in return.

"Mr. Chekov will now be allowed contact with Commander Spock and allowed passage and residence on New Vulcan," another elderly Vulcan stated.

"I request that Commander Spock be deemed in control of himself by a Vulacn healer before making contact with Mr. Chekov," Selek, otherwise known as Spock Prime, spoke up.

"That is logical."

After leaving the council room Selek had to refrain from adding a little bounce to his step. He had won! The restraining order on was void. Now the young man could continue his career with Starfleet. At least he hoped the young man would go back to Starfleet. The old Vulcan remembered the times where the Russian had been a big help during his time on the Enterprise.

Well, he would go deliver the good news to the young man himself even though it was logical for the lawyer to tell him.

He would come up with a better explanation when he got to Earth.


	26. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 25_

Selek gazed at the nice looking apartment for a moment while trying to determine exactly how to approach the young man inside. The entire shuttle ride he had been unable to think of a way to gently tell the human that he could return to his life as a member of the Enterprise crew. Drawing up some courage, even though it didn't look like he needed to, the elderly Vulcan knocked soundly on the door.

As he tried to calm his suddenly racing heart, Selek listened to the shuffling of bare feet on the floors inside the unit. They were light and careful, occasionally stopped for a few seconds with some quiet murmuring. Finally the person inside came to the door where they paused again, to logically look through the small hole in the door, before opening it. There before him stood Pavel Chekov in a wrinkled light blue shirt and an equally wrinkled pair of long, light-weight trousers, or pants depending on where one was raised. He blinked almost sleepily at him and ran a hand through his ruffled blonde hair that did nothing to tame it.

"Hello? Hov may I help you?" he asked with a tired quality to his accented voice.

"I apologize, did I wake you?" Selek couldn't believe he had woken the young man up.

"No, no, you just caught me right after I voke up. I am sorry I am not at my best right nov." The young man gave a sleepy smile. "Vould you like to come in Mr.—"

"Selek, Ambassador Selek."

"Vell Ambassador, vould you like to come in?" The blonde moved to the side when the Vulcan nodded.

The two of them made their way to the small kitchen where the Ambassador sat down at the table while Pavel made himself some tea. The young man had offered to get him something, but he refused the kind gesture.

"So you obviously came for a reason, like ze last time you came to me," Pavel fished like he usually did as he gradually became more awake. That was a nice constant in this dimension.

"I wanted to personally inform you that the Vulcan Council has lifted the restraining order against you." The Vulcan smiled gently at the shocked look the young man had.

"Vhy vould zey do zat?"

"Your lawyer, Mr. West, worked acquired the evidence required to lift the order before the Malvirum Beetles were discovered onboard the Enterprise. With the results of Commander Spock's evaluation it was proven that he had not been in control of his actions mentally. Thus the restraining order was not made with a sound mind and is invalid," Selek explained calmly.

"So everything vas because of the beetles? Even from vhen ve vere held captive?" Pavel looked into his tea as if it would tell him everything he wanted to know.

"No," the elderly Vulcan gently consoled the young man. "What happened during that time was Commander Spock going through Pon Farr. He had no control, yes, but it had nothing to do with the Malvirum Beetles."

"Then vhat vas effected?" That desperate look in those young eyes made Selek reveal what he knew.

"It is estimated that the Malvirum Beetles came aboard the ship around the same time you and Commander Spock were rescued, but as they do not affect brain waves until mateing it is likely that there was no affect until weeks to possibly months after."

The information sank into Pavel's mind as he considered everything he had been through. So he really wasn't to blame for anything, nothing that had happened to him was actually his fault. Sure he had known that, but deep down he had had his doubts. Now he knew for sure that nothing was his fault.

The elder Spock was about to say something else when Lyusya and Vitaliy came trudging in. They were so cute in their matching pajamas, ruffled hair, and shuffling walk. Lyusya held onto her brother's hand while he rubbed sleep from his eyes. Over the bond they asked for their breakfast which Pavel happily prepared for them after sitting them in their highchairs.

Turning around with the special food that was the best nutrition for the twins, which they loved and he was able to make, the young parent noticed the shocked stare that can from Selek.

"How?" he asked in clear confusion.

"Zis did not happen to you?" the blonde asked with a tilt of his head as he handed the easy to chew food to his children.

"This plane is vastly different, yet similar. So no it did not," he said with a shake of his head.

Suddenly there was a laser pointer dot on the Ambassador's forehead which caused Pavel to laugh since it was Vitaliy's turn to use it.

"Zis is Ambassador Selek," he told them, receiving nods.

"Do they speak?"

"Yes, zey are just shy. Zey get zat from me." He smiled fondly at his eating children.

"What are their names?"

"Lyusya and Vitaliy Chekov."

Thus Pavel started his tale on all he had been through, from his time in captivity with the Commander to where he was now. Selek listened intently, occasionally glancing at the twins. This was what Leonard walked in on, Pavel and Selek talking about the differences between their timelines and the twins dutifully drawing at the table.

"So are we telling the young Spock?" the doctor asked casually as he grabbed some food from the fridge. It was a half day for him so he was happy to be back early, Especially since it was his turn to cook.

"He can find out on his own once he is deemed in control of himself by the Vulcan healer he has been ordered to see to reverse the damage the Malvirum Beetles have done," Selek revealed.

"He vill have to apologize for everything he did to me first," Pavel stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest. There was no way the younger Spock would know of his children if he had any say in the matter. At least if he didn't show any remorse over his past actions.

* * *

"What is it that you wished to tell me, Captain?" Spock asked the blonde that sat across from him at the chess board.

"We're off duty so call my Jim. Do you know what Chekov's been doing since he left?" Kirk asked in return as he moved his chosen piece.

"I do not know."

"Well I say him a while ago, did some digging. Spock, there's a whole bunch of sealed medical files on his record that I couldn't get into." The blonde sighed when the piece he just moved was captured.

"Why would that be concerning?" Even though he had asked the question, Spock still felt uneasy at the thought of something medical being wrong with the young man.

"I don't know, but I'm sure it has something to do with the kids I saw him with at the mall. I mean, the only way I can think of those two existing is if he got pregnant somehow, but I can't think of a single species that could make a male pregnant during his time on the Enterprise."

Spock froze with his hand over his intended piece.

"What children?"

"Two cute little kids, twins from the looks of them. Matching outfits and everything. A boy and girl, the girl had black hair and the boy had a dark brown. I didn't get to see their eyes, but their ears were pointed." Kirk looked up from the board and locked eyes with the stunned Vulcan across from him. "Can Vulcan males make other males pregnant, Spock?"

All the young Vulcan could do was nod as the implications sank in.


	27. Chapter 26

**Author's Note:** Wanted to let you guys know that with school starting up and a few personal problems rearing their ugly heads, there may occasionally be a late chapter. Just giving a good, fair warning

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 26_

Pavel was working diligently, steadily making his way through the shockingly large pile of high priority jobs in the shop. Heck, some of the other workers had been called in due to the abnormally large amount of work coming in. The bell at the desk rang out and the blonde cursed under his breath that no one was smart enough to stay out front. Wiping his hands after a quick fix, he set a scanner on it and ran to the counter to greet the customer.

Standing on the other side of the counter was an equally shocked Sulu. The two of them stared at each other for a moment in shocked silence.

Snapping out of his daze, the Russian forced a smile onto his face, "Velcome to Brilliant Repairs. How can ve fix your day?"

The Asian man seemed to shuffle his feet in an awkward manner and rub the back of his neck. "I-um-I came to pick up a few boxes of PADDs for Starfleet."

"Ah, yes. Let me get zose for you." Quickly the younger man scurried over to the completed section in the back.

"Everything alright, Pavel?" one of his coworkers asked as he looked up from the replicator he was fixing.

"Yes, everything is fine," the blonde reassured as he grabbed the three large boxes of Starfleet issued PADDs that he had completed when he had the twins with him. Slowly and carefully so as to not bump into anyone working, Pavel made his way back to the front. He set the boxes on the counter and quickly entered in the pickup. He turned back to Sulu as the system he created did everything else for him.

"Here you are. All set to go. Starfleet vill be paying so you do not have to vorry about zat." He smiled that fake smile he hated to use. With all the stress from the last few days he had very little patience to deal with the man in front of him.

"I-um-thanks. I—" Sulu cut himself off, seeming to need some courage before he continued. "I'm sorry for how I acted towards you! I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it and it's no excuse for how I behaved! I beg your forgiveness!" he rambled off.

If it hadn't been for knowing him for so long Pavel would have missed all of that. He blinked in shock, mostly because the normally calm man had raised his voice in a situation that wasn't life threatening. Then the words sank in and his eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Vhat do you mean by zat? You are sorry for vhat? For not defending me? For not standing as my friend vhen I needed you? For not trying to contact me immediately after I left? For zat stupid message you sent all zose years ago? Vhat exactly are you sorry for, Sulu?" he snarled, earning himself a shocked look from his former crewmate. Sure he was mad, Sulu was supposed to be his friend, but had abandoned him instead. So he was showing his anger instead of hiding it like he used to; people change.

"For everything," he blurted out, "I was a horrible friend and I should have stayed by your side through everything. I should have fought to protect you. I know I messed up and that I probably destroyed our friendship beyond repair, but the only thing I can say is that I'm sorry."

Pavel glared at him some more. There was a rather large part of him that wanted to stay mad at the man before him, to yell and make him truly regret the hurt he had caused. That other part though was a bit more persuasive. He needed to be a role model for his prince and princess. They would have to deal with people the hurt them and they needed to know when to give and when to stand solid. Sighing and blonde crossed his arms over his chest.

"So vhy did you do all zose zings?"

Sulu blinked, clearly shocked at the turn of events, but quickly recovered from the unexpected olive branch. "The beetles messed with my head. I just got the test results if you want to see for yourself."

"Oh, I vill check zem alright. By giving zem to Leonard so he can confirm zem himself." He let a playful smirk appear on his lips.

"Alright, I can send it to you. What's your information?" the older man grasped at the chance to rekindle their friendship.

"I vill send you a message. Now I zink you need to get zese to Starfleet if your ringing pocket is saying anything."

The blonde smiled as Sulu jumped and picked up the call. Turning to the new customer that had come in Pavel made quick work of handling the payment and then helping to load one of the many replicators they saw at the shop into their vehicle. When he came back in Sulu had the boxes in his hands.

"I'll talk to you later?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes."

As he went out the door the older man paused for a second. Pavel could just make out him saying Leonard's name in a questioning tone before the door closed. He couldn't help chuckling at how amazingly slow that man could be sometimes.

Spock sat in front of his assigned mind healer in a deep meditative state. The Malvirum Beetles had done more damage than originally theorized. Coupled with him severing the bond he had with Mr. Chekov, well, let's just say that his mind was like a horror ride at an amusement park for a Vulcan. His emotions were like chaotic waves that thrashed all around in his mind, confusing his thoughts and hindering his ability to behave logically.

All the while he was with the healer they worked on calming his emotions back to how they had been before all of this had started. This was their fifth session and he could already feel their progress increasing exponentially. Then something shocking even to a Vulcan happened. As one of the last few waves of emotions was quelled, what appeared to be three very weak bonds simultaneously became known to both him and the healer.

"Fascinating. You stated that you had severed the bond with your previous human partner, but it appears that the Malvirum Beetles effects made it impossible for you to do more than weaken it. The two of you are still mated. However, that does not explain the other two bonds," the healer spoke with barely any inflection in his voice.

"You are under oath to not reveal what you learn during our sessions, correct? Even to the Council?" Spock fired back as a sudden panic settled within him. That had been happening a lot lately, sudden panic attacks and temper tantrums that came with no logical reason.

"Yes, I am not allowed to reveal anything, directly or indirectly, about your sessions to anyone, even the Vulcan Council," the healer replied, used to these outbursts by now.

Taking a deep, reassuring breath, which the healer seemed to disapprove of for being a very human action that was meant to give courage, Spock answered the unasked question.

"I believe that my mate became pregnant while we were on board the Enterprise together."


	28. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 27_

The day after he talked with Sulu, Pavel felt rather off. Upon waking up he felt the inexplicable need to stay with his children for the day. He had no idea where it had come from, but he had learned to never ignore his instincts. So he called Daniel asking for the day off, using the excuse that Vitaliy was ill. He normally didn't like lying, but he needed to be home. Besides that, Vitaliy was more susceptible a cold than Lyusya was which led to him taking days off anyway to take care of his prince. It seemed that some god out there was smiling down on him since he got the day off, but with a request to see Daniel in his office the next day. That wasn't nerve wracking at all.

Now with a free day Pavel decided to putter around the apartment. He woke and dressed his little prince and princess in new matching overalls and purple shirts. They had a rather shocking growth spurt a little while ago forcing the young parent to start using the larger clothing he had bought. The current outfit though, was bought about three days ago. He had the old clothes washed and in a bag ready to be donated to charity. He was also thankful that his little ones were also getting to the point where they were tall enough to start using the training toilet on their own. The bond sort of helped with telling him when they needed to go making the potty training that much easier.

Barefoot, he cleaned the apartment, letting the twins play in the living room when he finished in there. Once the house was clean, which took up all the time between breakfast and lunch, he made sandwiches for the three of them. After lunch he sat down on the floor with the twins and worked on finding a school for them while they worked through yet another interactive learning workbook. He had looked around a few days ago, but each and every one of them had refused to even entertain the idea of evaluating the two for grade placement. The fact that they were part Vulcan didn't sway the decisions either. He was just about ready to home school the twins until they could go to college. Stupid school system saying his little ones were too young to do what he claimed they could.

As he hung up with the last school that denied his children, there was a sharp knock on the door. Blinking in surprise the blonde stood from his spot and left the living room. Looking through the peep hole in the door he saw Mr. and Mrs. Jacksons standing on the other side. Smiling, Pavel opened the door ready to welcome them back to town only to be greeted with a fist careening towards his face.

Falling to the ground in pain and shock the young Russian attempted to recover only to be grabbed. He struggled and fought, but eventually he was maneuvered into a restraining hold, an arm pressed tightly against his throat cutting off his air supply. Helpless, he watched as Mrs. Jackson hurried into the living room. As his vision faded away, he heard the startled and scared screams from his prince and princess. That sound was the most frightening thing Pavel had ever heard in his life.

* * *

Spock was peacefully meditating, recovering from his healer session the day before, and exploring the revealed parts of his mind. Indeed the bonds with his mate and children were incredibly weak. He was ashamed to say that he was responsible for the state of the bonds. Due to his inability to resist the Malvirum Beetles he had caused unnecessary harm to his mate and his children. There was no telling what kind of damage he had done to the children while they were still growing within the small blonde. He felt such remorse at his actions. However, the weak bonds did explain his violent mood swings and his fondness for the young man.

He was startled, to say the least, when the bond he shared with Mr. Chekov suddenly flared with so much panic that the Commander actually toppled out of his meditation pose. Then seconds later the bonds of his children flared in fear forcing a strangle gasp from his lips and forcing his body to curl in on itself as if to prevent the pain from continuing.

When the pain dulled to a low, constant roar, the half Vulcan was able to blink open his eyes. Fear, panic, worry, large amounts of anger raced through his veins. There was only one thing he could think about as he stood and quickly changed into his standard issue black clothing before running out of his Starfleet quarters. He didn't care that he wasn't acting on logic as he sped across campus or that his captain had started following him at some point by the time he made it out of the front gate.

His mate and children were in danger.

* * *

Tired and sore, Leonard finally made it to his apartment steps. All he wanted to do right now was sleep, then maybe eat something when he woke up. He was just starting to guess at what Pavel would make for dinner tonight when he paused at the foot of the stairs.

The front door was left wide open, something Pavel only did when it was really hot, which today wasn't. Fear suddenly gripped at the doctor's heart at the implications. Running up the steps and through the door Leonard took in the scene. For all intents and purposes, nothing looked out of place at a glance, but the doctor had been on enough landing parties to know what to look for. The table in the hall was pushed a few inches from its original position. Running to the living room where he knew the small family spent the majority of the day, he caught the side of the entry archway so he didn't skid past. There was the actual scene. The twins' workbooks and Pavel's notes were on the floor, in complete disarray. After living with the Russian for so long he had discovered that the younger man was extremely anal about having everything neat and tidy even though he spread out while working, especially when on the floor. Running through the rest of the apartment, Leonard started to acknowledge the horrifying realization that had been creeping into his mind since he saw the living room.

Pavel and the twins had been kidnapped.

Pacing, Leonard tried to think of what to do. It hadn't been a full day yet so he couldn't report to the usual authorities. Who could he talk to about this? Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He could call Selek! He was still on Earth so he could help or at least give advice.

As he dialed the Vulcan Ambassador he ran through a list of names her could contact. Maybe Mr. West could help, he was a lawyer by trade and so had to be smart. Finally on the fourth ring the elder Vulcan picked up.

"Dr. McCoy, how may I help you?" the Vulcan asked confused.

"Pavel and the twins were kidnapped!" he rushed out, panic really starting to settle in now. He caught the other man's eyes widen at the news.

"How long ago?"

"I don't know. I came back from my shift and the door was open. The neighbors are on vacation and everyone else on the street has jobs or school to keep them away during the day."

"Who else have you told?" Selek asked.

"You're the first who knows," the doctor confessed.

Silence drifted between them, making Leonard panic even more. Hearing pounding feet, the doctor turned around to see a panicked Spock in disarray standing in the entryway with a winded Jim behind him. He had never seen the Commander like this; wrinkled clothes that must have been put on in a hurry, messy hair the was slightly sticking up from it's normal resting place, and wide, panicked eyes that bore into his soul.

"What happened to them?" the younger Spock asked in a rush, his voice heavy and ragged.

Gulping, Leonard debated telling the obviously emotionally compromised Vulcan.

"They were kidnapped, Mr. Spock," Selek said from the PADD in Leonard's hands.

The response was immediate. Spock staggered to the side and leaned against the hand he used to support himself on the wall. He looked like he was going to cry or scream in anger at the same time. Jim's own eyes widened, too out of wide from keeping up with Spock to give a verbal response. Suddenly, the young Vulcan snatched the PADD out of the doctor's hands and glared at his older self.

"How do I get them back?" he snarled.

The other two physically in the room looked at each other in concern. How would they handle this with Spock being so very unlike himself?


	29. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 28_

Spock stood glued to his PADD, busily hacking into every surveillance system in the areas that Jim was mapping out on a map that linked their PADDs together with Leonard's help. Together the three of them had started laying out the ground work for finding Pavel and his children as Selek had advised. The older Vulcan would be scanning the media looking for anything that could be a lead for them.

At first Leonard had been extremely leery of allowing Spock to help. Hell even Jim had voiced his concern! Selek on the other hand had pointed out to them, while Spock was glaring at the two, that a Vulcan who knows their mate and children are in danger will stop at nothing until they see them unharmed in front of them. Even after that they would be extremely attached to the mate and children until they felt it safe for them to be left alone, and even then they would periodically check in. So basically if they didn't let him help then he would go off and look for them himself and most likely get hurt in the process, or hurt someone else.

Running a hand through his hair, Leonard glanced back at the list of places that the small family could have been taken to nearby. Judging by the time he came back, and the fact that Pavel had called out of work to "take care of Vitaliy", the three had only been missing for about two hours before the doctor had returned. That meant that their map had a highlighted area the signified the area that could be covered in about two hours. That area was also expanding with each passing moment that went without a ransom call. There were dots that represented places where the kidnappers could take Pavel and the twins without rising suspicion. So far Spock had found nothing on the security feeds of all those places.

This was starting to feel hopeless.

Then the house phone the Leonard hardly ever used rang. All three froze for a split second before the doctor lunged for the phone and picked it up on speaker, holding a finger up to his lips to tell the other's to stay quiet.

"Hello?"

"Doctor Leonard McCoy. How good it is to finally hear your voice," garbled harmonized voices greeted from the other line. Jim gave a subtle nod and immediately started tracing the call silently through his PADD.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Leonard asked calmly, even though he felt anything but.

The obviously disguised voice chuckled. "No, we've never met before. And this is the first time we've talked too. But I do know who you are."

"So you know me. Who are you then?"

"Names aren't that important of a thing, are they? Can't we just have a nice conversation?" That voice was really aggravating.

"Alright, let's talk then." At least he could try to stall for a trace to stick.

"So glad you wish to talk. I've heard such wonderful things about you. Do you want to know what I find most commendable about you, Dr. McCoy?"

"Sure."

"I find it very commendable that you helped your friend with so much."

"Well that's what a good person does, help people. Especially if they're your friends."

"I think you misunderstand me. I'm not talking about Kirk who I know is trying to trace our call right now or Spock who is probably trying to analyze everything about me at this moment. I'm talking about how you helped Chekov."

"As I said he's a friend and I help friends. If you knew they were here, why did you continue with this?" He really hated whoever this was.

"I just wanted you to know that I respect what you've done for Chekov and for his kids too. I'm sure they'll appreciate you trying to find them."

"You can tell them to expect us," Leonard growled only to get a laugh in response.

"I don't think I have to worry about that. Even if you do get them back, the entire galaxy will know about them soon enough."

"Why?" was all he could ask.

"Because secrets are no fun."

The line went dead and Jim swore. They didn't have a lock on them and they were running out of time.

* * *

Pavel woke up with a pained groan, a sore throat, and a pounding headache. He remembered Mr. Jackson attacking him and Mrs. Jackson going for his prince and princess. Pushing himself up he immediately searched for his children. Thankfully they weren't that far from him, a few feet away with their eyes closed. As fast as he could the young man crawled to them and checked for signs of life. A heavy sigh of relief escaped Pavel and he pulled them onto his lap. They were alive.

Looking around he took stock of where they were. It was a bare room with plain tan walls and wore down polished wood floors. The only window was boarded up and the door would probably be locked if he tried to open it. The floor was cold and uncomfortable.

None of that really mattered though. He needed to work out a way to escape or call for help.

A click came from the door right before it opened. Pavel watched warily as it opened, ready to start with the interrogation and to protect his children. Only he was stunned into silence at the sight of who entered.

"Dr. Edwards? Vhat are you doing here? Vhere are ve?" he asked in a rush.

"Calm down Pavel, all will be explained soon enough," she smiled at him.

"Vhat is going on?"

"Just making sure you're safe and sound."

"You could have called, or wisited. Vhy do zis?" He was slow sometimes, but not slow enough to miss the fact the Edwards wasn't helping him.

"Let me correct that. I need you within my control so you don't screw up my plans." Gone was the smiling face she had been using before and now she wore a sneer that twisted her pretty features into something ugly.

"Vhat are you planning to do?" He glared up at her, not willing to let his inner fears speak out.

"Why, I plan to tell every living soul in the universe about you and the kids. You see, I was going back through some of your follow ups post birth and came to a startling discovery." She pointed a lazy finger as him as if she was explaining something about an experiment. "The hormones that the Commander gave you created a womb that should have been temporary. Yet in several of your x-rays it showed a shrunken, but still clearly there and possibly functional uterus. Something is keeping it from simply disappearing and when I reveal this and everything else, people will be begging me for the answers. And you'll have no choice, but to do as I say or the kids will experience some real terrors. Got it?" She glared at him and he shakily nodded his head. "Cho, my little meal tickets!"

Then she left, closing and locking the door behind her. Pavel hugged his babies closer to him. This was a lot worse than he could have ever imagined. Yet again someone he had trusted had turned on him. When would he ever learn?

In a moment of weakness he started to cry. This always happened to him. He wished Leonard was there to make sure the twins were ok. Rising from the depth of his mind came the thought he had been pushing away for so long. He wanted Spock to be here to keep them safe. He wanted to be safe again and sadly the last time he had felt truly safe was working at Brilliant Repairs or being with Spock. So he cried, releasing all of his pent up emotions. He could afford to do it now since he didn't have to put on a brave face for his babies yet. Once he was in control again he would work on an escape.


	30. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 29_

Having calmed down a while ago, it could have been hours since there was no way of telling how much time had passed, Pavel managed to stand with the twins still in his arms. If Edwards came back and asked what he was doing he would just say he was stretching his legs. In reality he was taking a closer look at the room. If he could find the right components he could make a distress signal, or a low tech communicator, or manage to escape with his kids on his own. Secretly he hoped to find a way to accomplish all three. That way he could call for help, give out his location, and make a run for it all at the same time.

Slowly he worked his way around the perimeter of the Spartan room trying to appear as if he wasn't really looking for escape options or hidden cameras. When he was sure there weren't any cameras after the third lap he gave up all pretenses and searched as closely as he could with the twins cradled in his arms. All he managed to find was slight discoloration and texture differences in certain places of the walls. Once the twins were awake he would try to see if there was anything behind those areas. One floor board squeaked differently than the rest so it would be the first thing he tackled. There might be something underneath it that he could use.

There was a fluctuation in the bond he shared with his princess. She had always been an early riser compared to her brother so it made sense that she would be the first to wake up. Slowly she became more aware, first reaching out through the bond which Pavel sent as much love as he could back to her. She blinked her cute brown eyes open and rubbed the sleep from them. Looking around and then up at him she tightened her grip on his shirt and a trickle of fear raced down the bond.

"Mama, vhere are ve?" she asked, voice was extremely quiet and had a cute imitation of his accent. For preferring to be quiet like her brother and mother, she always tried to speak out loud when they were alone because Mother encouraged it. That and Vitaliy did it and she didn't want to be left behind.

"Bad people took us. I am trying to find a way to get help or escape," the young Russian responded truthfully. He had never lied to his children and he wouldn't start now.

"Can I help?" She gazed at him with a blank face, but her eyes and bond shared her fear and willingness to help.

"I need you to be brave for me, Little Princess. Keep your brother calm for Mama?" he asked. He understood this would be hard, all of them would be scared and he had to try and save them all.

"I vill try, Mama." She nodded her little head and reached out to her brother to hold his hand as he started to wake up.

Vitaliy awoke the same way as his sister, rubbing his eyes and blinking himself awake before curling into his mother. His small hand tightened around his sister's.

"Mama?" he asked so softly it could almost be considered a whisper. Though he appeared calm there was a large amount of fear coming from the bond to which Pavel and Lyusya responded to with love.

"Do not vorry. Mama vill keep you safe. I vill get us out of here," he murmured as he nuzzled his children.

He was about to tell them that he was going to start looking around again with free hands when the door unlocked. Instantly he put the twins on the floor and placed himself between them and the door. They stood there waiting, Pavel protectively in front with Lyusya and Vitaliy holding hands behind him. In came Edwards with a tray of assorted foods and drinks which she placed next to the door.

"Dinner time. Eat up. I can't have anything happening to you that would affect the results of the tests I'll be running," she ordered with a smirk and then left, locking the door once again.

There was no way any of them were consuming what she gave them.

"Stay here, stay quiet. I vill try to find a way to get out of here," Pavel told his babies before swiftly taking the butter knife from the tray and started working on loosening the squeaky floor board. If he couldn't find a technological route he would at least have the floor board for a weapon.

The board came out shockingly easy and what he found nearly made him cheer.

* * *

Spock was still scanning security systems on the ever expanding map. Leonard and Jim had given him the list of criteria for possible hideouts which he put into his equations. The two humans had retired to the kitchen for food. Leonard had placed a bowl of fruit next to the Vulcan in case he became hungry, but that wouldn't be likely until Pavel and the twins were back. So he and Jim sat at the table having sandwiches. There were leftovers from whatever Pavel had made for dinner the night before, but it didn't seem right to eat it without the small family here to partake in it as well.

"Can you tell me about Pavel and the twins?" Jim asked. Leonard knew that he was trying to distract Spock for a little while and from what he could see of the living room the man had stopped typing. Guess he wanted to know too.

"Pavel went through some tough times when he left the Enterprise. Those conversations that Uhura had been complaining about were the two of us talking. When he found out he was pregnant he was so scared that he called me in tears," Leonard gave a soft chuckle at the memory. "I won't tell you everything about what he went through, that's the kid's story to tell. I can tell you about the twins though. Lyusya is the oldest, really protective of her brother. She has thicker hair that curls into cute ringlets at the bottom. She doesn't show as much emotion as her brother, but you can tell what she's feeling from the way she holds herself. Vitaliy is younger, quieter; he'll be the first to explore new things. He's got a mop of curly hair on his head that refuses to be tamed. He gets sick pretty frequently though, gave both Pavel and me heart attacks when he had his first fever. Cute little guy though, always smiling, and he's got this pout that can get you to do anything."

Spock seemed to be trembling, possibly upset with himself for missing out on getting to know his children first hand. Leonard had to admit that a small part of him felt bad for the man. He couldn't imagine missing out on Joanna's birth or a lot of her life's first. The Vulcan had missed their first words, first steps, first investigation, and first injuries.

"Actually I have a few pictures and some videos of them. Let me show you." As he pulled up the files on his PADD Spock seemed to materialize behind Jim. He explained each picture to them and let them watch the videos. The first video was when the twins learned how to play hide and seek and were playing it by themselves. It had been so cute watching them toddle around and hide in surprisingly good hiding spots. Well, they would have been good if Vitaliy had been able to stop giggling and Lyusya had been able to sit still.

Just as he was about to show off the Halloween costumes that Pavel and him had bought them the PADD in his hands rang. The number didn't show, but there was that slim bit of hope that it was the kidnapper again. Jim quickly got his PADD ready to trace the call and when he nodded Leonard answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Leonard!" Pavel's relieved voice drifted over the line.

"Good God, Pavel! Are you and the twins alright? Do you know where you are?" He asked while Jim furiously tracked the call. He muttered about the challenge of not having a number to trace. Spock stood tense with his own PADD in hand ready to get directions.

"Ve are alright. I do not know vhere ve are, but ze room is small vith no windows. Ze door is locked. I tore up a floor board and found ze remaining vires from a replicator," the Russian responded.

"Good, good. Pavel, I need you to keep this line on as long as you can. Jim's trying to track it back to you and once he's got that Spock will have directions in seconds. We'll get you three out of there," Leonard instructed.

"I vill try. Leonard, it vas the Jacksons. I zought zey had come back home early, but zey just came after us," The blonde's voice sounded rough as if her was trying to resist crying.

Looking to Spock the Vulcan nodded and started to search for any signs of the Jacksons. "Alright, Pavel. We'll deal with them latter; right know we need you to stay focused. Have you seen anyone else?"

"Yes, I—" there was a definite hitch in his breath there, "It vas Dr. Edwards. She vants to use us to reveal Wulcan secrets. I do not understand. Vhy vould she betray us like zis?" Pavel whimpered.

"Mama," two soft, harmonized voices drifted over the line. "She is a bad lady. Ve vill be home soon. Ve vill be safe like you said."

"Hey there, kids. Are you okay? Nothing hurts right?" Leonard asked while watching the jerky movements of the Vulcan.

"Ve are vell, Uncle Lenoard," the twins chimed in unison. It was still slightly creepy how they did that.

"I've got them!" Jim crowed.

"I have the directions loading now," Spock called out.

"You three hear that? We're going to get you out of there. Just keep this line open alright?" Leonard cheered as he and the other two ran out the door, only pausing long enough to lock the door behind them.

"Hurry, I do not know vhen Edwards vill be back," Pavel gasped out. "I only have a floor board to use as a weapon."

"Hey, at least you have a weapon," Jim reassured.

"According to the directions we will be there in thirty-six point two minutes," Spock called out before passing the PADD to Leonard quickly. "Do you know the place?"

"Yeah I know it! Take the next alley on the left, it's a shortcut!" the doctor called out while passing his PADD to the Vulcan so he could draw out a shorter route.

"Mr. Spock? Are you and Mr. Kirk there?" Pavel's voice came over the line as they ran into the alley with Spock in the lead.

"Yes, we are coming to get you and the children." He had forced himself to not say that the twins were theirs.

"You owe me an apology," the younger man gave an amused huff.

"I will give my apology in person," the half Vulcan replied.

"Take a right then the third left!" Leonard called out, "We'll be there in twelve minutes if we keep this pace!"

"We're almost there Pavel, Just hold on!" Jim said.

"Be quiet!" Pavel hissed and there was movement over the line.

"What are you doing in here? Wait what did you do?" a female voice that could only belong to Edwards drifted over the line right before a loud smack. There was a heavy thud and some scrambling that caused the racing men to push their tired muscles harder.

"Vitaliy, hold onto zis and do not let it go off. Lyusya, hold your brother's hand. Ve are getting out of here," Pavel's stern voice came over the line and they heard slightly fast paced shuffling and a door being shut and locked. The footsteps started again, careful yet still fast paced.

"There!" Leonard pointed to an old house that looked to be in the middle of being renovated.

Spock charged ahead using that Vulcan speed with Jim trailing a behind him and Leonard bringing up the rear. He was a doctor, not a tack star for crying out loud! The two reached the front door and kicked it in, Jim holding a phaser at the ready. The doctor heard a few shots and got to the door in time to see two large men fall to the floor. A creak at the stairs had them all turning to see Pavel standing there with his large wooden board standing in a sturdy stance with the twins visible behind him holding hands and the basic communicator.

* * *

Pavel felt himself tear up at the sight of the three men at the foot of the stairs. He had knocked Edwards out and locked her in the room. Then he had worked his way through two floors down to this very spot, the entire time trying to be calm when both he and the twins knew he was scared. With a choked sob that he only half managed to hold back he dropped the floor board and picked up the twins before hurrying down the stairs. As soon as he was on the ground floor all three of their rescuers were around him. Leonard was going through a preliminary health check while Jim asked for the directions to where Edwards was before leaving with his small communicator by his ear. Spock stared him in the eyes as if asking permission for something that Pavel found himself reluctantly wanting. As soon as Leonard stepped away the blonde nodded and the Vulcan had him wrapped in his arms.

Pavel had never felt safer.


	31. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 30_

Here in his arms were his mate and children. They were here, in front of him, in one piece; if Leonard moving away and not ranting was anything to go by. Spock buried his nose into the blonde hair of his mate and took a deep breath. His arms tightened just a little more around the three at the thought of nearly losing them. Pulling away the half Vulcan took in the sight of those most precious to him.

Pavel himself had a bruise on his temple that he obviously got from when he had been abducted. His hair was messy and his grey sweatpants and matching short sleeved shirt were extremely wrinkled. Then he saw his children for the first time. They gazed back at him with expressive brown eyes, reckless dark brown curls, and distinct Vulcan eyebrows. Their overalls and purple shirts were wrinkled and had what looked like dirt spots on them. Just like Jim said, they were small, with only the slightest green hue to their skin making them look on a little less human then they would appear if their ears weren't pointed.

One boy and one girl.

Both perfect.

Looking back to Pavel's tired eyes, Spock knew what he needed to do before the authorities arrived.

"I apologize for every wrong I have committed against you. There is no excuse for how I have treated you," the Vulcan apologized as he promised.

Pavel looked at him in shock; had he really been hurt so much that he was surprised by promises being kept?

Pavel looked at the Commander, really looked at him in a way that made it appear as if he was peering into the older man's very soul. He truly seemed sincere in his apology even though Pavel himself knew that the Malvirum Beetles had been the cause for his actions. So the man did care about what he had done and was sorry for it. The only question now was did Pavel want to forgive him? Honestly, he did, but he wasn't ready to forget either.

"I vill forgive, but not forget," he responded. Although it seemed to disappoint the man, who was extremely emotional compared to what he normally was, he quickly recovered with a dawning look of understanding.

"That is acceptable." He looked back at the children staring up at him.

"These are My Prince and Princess, Vitaliy and Lyusya," Pavel answered the unasked question for the Vulcan. "Little Prince, Little Princess; this is your father."

The twins stared up at their father with sudden interest. Vitaliy tilted his head to the right slightly and reach out a small hand. He took hold of the wrinkled black shirt and blinked a couple times. Lyusya watched the Vulcan like a hawk and when she determined that the large man holding her mother wasn't going to harm them, she too took hold of his shirt. Together they tugged there times before opening their mouths to say:

"Hello, Papa."

Blinking in surprise, Spock felt the bonds with the two resonate and grow. They had accepted him so easily that it seemed too good to be true. The only reason he was forced to believe it truly happened was that the bond he shared with Pavel was still weak despite them being so close and touching, though there was no skin contact. He may have the acceptance of his children, but it would take more time for the bond with his mate to strengthen.

"Greetings, my children" he said softly, his features soften just the slightest bit as the words brought small smiles to the twins' faces. He cautiously looked to his small mate and tension eased out of his shoulders at the gentle smile on the blonde's lips.

The clearing of a throat broke the moment they had created and Spock had to restrain the urge to growl at Jim; it was always Jim. Closing his eyes briefly, the Commander turned his attention to the somber looking Captain on the stairs.

"As cute as this is to watch, we've got a problem," The Captain of the Enterprise told them.

"What do you mean by problem?" Leonard asked.

"That secret Edwards was talking about was the information she had from the tests Chekov went through. She already sent the biggest bombshell to the media." Seeing the grim look on his face, Pavel became worried.

"Vhat did she send?"

* * *

Hours later the group was sitting in the living room of Leonard and Pavel's apartment. They had just come back and Pavel had just sat down after putting the twins to bed. After discovering what had been sent to the media, Leonard had franticly called Selek. The elder Vulcan had told them he would try to stop it, but they should be prepared if he failed. Then the police had arrived to take statements and collect those that had held Pavel and the twins captive. There were no signs of the Jacksons ever having been there, but the police promised they would have warrants out for the couple by the end of the day.

So here they were, sitting in the living room with the television on, fearfully waiting for what was to come. Leonard was leaning against the arm of the couch with Jim leaning against him looking half asleep. Spock sat in the last available seat on the couch. He would have given his seat to Pavel, but the Russian had only come down, picked up the mess on the floor, and sat down on the floor leaning his back against the couch next to the Vulcan's legs.

"Now for a special piece of news tonight. The results of a medical discovery were sent to us not too long ago," the news anchor began, making both Pavel and Spock tense. "It seems that through this research it was determined that a hormone created by Vulcans makes it so that any male can become pregnant. So if there are any men out there looking to experience the wonders of pregnancy, go find a willing Vulcan male to partner with."

"Would you do it?" the woman co-anchor asked.

"Not likely, I've seen enough pregnancies to know I'd mess something up. Better to leave that to those who want to do it and know what they're doing."

The four adults sat in silence as the news moved on to other headlines.

"Vell, at least no names were given," Pavel sighed. Truly they were lucky in that respect.

"Yes, most fortunate. Although I do not know how the Vulcan Council will handle this," Spock replied. More importantly, what would the Council try to do to his mate and children. If they tried anything he would resist, and he hoped they were smart enough not to risk alienating him more than they already did.


	32. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 31_

"I do not like zis," Pavel pouted as he stared longingly out the window of the apartment.

The other men in the living room had to agree with the young man. One of the teenagers on the street had told the universe through the internet about who the male that had Vulcan children was. Now a crowd of people, both news and non-news affiliated, stood outside the apartment. Luckily the windows had a tint control where they could black out the windows so no one could see inside. Even still, this was ridiculous. None of them could leave the house for fear of getting mobbed; meaning all of them had to call in and explain why they couldn't be in for work. Now Starfleet was trying to get involved, sending security teams to protect the apartment. Spock himself had gotten word from both his father and Selek that the Vulcan Council would make a statement and then send security of their own to escort him and the children to the embassy. No mention had been made of Pavel and Spock immediately started in on his father for even implying that he should leave the younger man behind.

Needless to say all of them were going stir-crazy and the twins wanting to go outside wasn't helping much. Lyusya stood on the couch next to Pavel glaring at the people outside knowing they were the reason she couldn't play outside while Vitaliy pouted as he idly scribbled on paper on the floor. It broke the men's hearts to see the two so upset compared to their normal inquisitive state.

"None of us do," Leonard sighed and patted the young man on the head, studiously ignoring the way Spock growled at him.

Selek had said the Vulcan would be possessive, and while the taller man never pushed the boundaries with Pavel by smothered him, he was still unwilling to let others touch the small male. The doctor was pretty sure the only reason neither him nor Jim had been killed yet is because they helped rescue Pavel and the twins. That and Pavel would probably refuse to go anywhere near the pointy-eared hobgoblin if he even tried. That was something he was sure Spock wouldn't risk happening.

"I can't believe they're acting like this," Jim scowled at the crowd as the Starfleet security teams arrived and pushed them away from the building. Some people even put up a fight which ended up getting them arrested by the police that Starfleet had sent with the teams.

"It is logical due to the nature of curiosity towards the unknown," Spock spoke up from where he stood close to Pavel, but far enough away so the man didn't feel crowded. He could also keep an eye on both of his children from this vantage point.

"Still doesn't excuse them from being jerks," Jim replied, pausing before saying "jerks" as he obviously was going to say something that little children were not supposed to hear originally.

"Agreed." Leonard glared once more at the crowd as a whole before focusing in on a couple people in particular. Standing there in the crowd with a scowl on her face was Uhura. She had her arms crossed and was glaring at the apartment as if willing Spock to come out. More concerning, however, was a familiar face from earlier in the year. "Son of—"

"What is it?" Jim asked in response to the cut off sentence.

"Uhura is out there, probably looking for you, Spock." The doctor noticed the slight stiffening of the Vulcan, but ignored it. "More concerning is a certain jerk out there that I thought we had gotten rid of."

Pavel hummed in contemplation and focused more on the people in the crowd. The moment he saw the person he snatched Lyusya from the couch and launched himself to Vitaliy. Picking up his baby boy, he put Spock between him and the window as if the Commander would protect them.

"No, no, no, no. He is supposed to be in jail still. Vhy is he here? How is he here?" Pavel panicked.

The twins started to fuss, sensing their mother's distress. In response Spock instantly took the smaller male in his arms and held him close, petting his hair in an attempt to calm him down.

"Which one?" Jim snarled out.

Leonard pointed to the only blank face in the crowd. There stood Pavel's ex-husband David. The very same David that should still be in jail and had a restraining order against him that stated he had to be at least one thousand feet from Pavel, the twins, and their place of residence at all times. The blonde captain glared at the man before pulling out his communicator.

"Hey, this is Captain Kirk. Yeah, I'm inside. There's a man out there—" He continued to list off the traits of the man he was staring at and explained that there was a restraining order and how he should be in jail.

When he hung up, a few of the officers from the patrol cars approached David. They spoke with him on a few moments before the man scowled at them. When their backs were turned he took off, a few officers giving chase. That wasn't suspicious at all!

"He's running," Jim turned to Pavel who looked at him with wide, fearful eyes, "Mind explaining why?"

"I-I had moved vith ze twins and he vas there. I-I did not know zat he vas abusive. He hid it so vell." Pavel started crying as the memories of his time with David came flooding forward. Spock tightened his hold on his mate as he caught sight of the memories from their skin to skin contact.

"Long story short Pavel married the guy thinking he was nice and he turned out to be a rich abuser," the southern man finished. He didn't like making the young man relive those moments.

"Alright, well the police are chasing him right now. Hopefully he'll leave you alone." With a nod Jim looked back out the window just in time to see a group of Vulcans come up to the door. "Vulcans are here."

Leonard and Jim went to the door right after the doorbell rang. They came back with three large uniformed Vulcans right behind them. Their blank faces found Pavel and the twins huddled in Spock's embrace and though their expression didn't change, the young man knew they were disapproving.

"Commander Spock, we are here to escort you and your children to the Vulcan Embassy," one of them said.

"My mate is coming with me," Spock shot back.

"Commander, we have orders only to bring you and your children."

"I will not leave without him," the younger Vulcan growled back at them. The sound coming from deep within his chest.

"Be logical Co—"

"I am being logical!" Spock roared.

They all stood silent. None of the humans dared to speak for fear of the standoff breaking out into violence. Spock had pushed Pavel and the twins behind him during his argument so he stood protectively between them and the Vulcans.

"I will willingly release the records of my healer sessions if Pavel comes with me," Spock offered. He knew that the Vulcan Council was interested in those files. If he had to give those up to keep Pavel with him, he would.

The three Vulcans looked at each other before one pulled away to make a call to the embassy. The other two continued to stare at the half-Vulcan. He growled again when one took an unacceptable step forward. They needed an agreement first before they could approach his mate and children. Jim was talking on his communicator again, and Leonard had come over with jackets for all of them. He helped Pavel dress the twins, even finding the matching hats they owned to cover their faces to avoid the cameras outside. The third Vulcan came back and nodded. The deal was made.

With his head held high, Spock exited the apartment without covering up, much to the other Vulcans' chagrin, with Lyusya in one arm and the other securely wrapped around Pavel. The twins held onto the brims of their hats holding them down, Pavel doing the same, as they made their way to the Vulcan Embassy car. At the same time Leonard and Jim left the apartment in the opposite direction, towards Starfleet, with the security teams following.

Getting into the car with Spock climbing in right after him, Pavel nervously held Vitaliy close. After their guards entered, the car drove away from the apartment. Spock reached down and held onto one of Pavel's hands and squeezed it gently. They would make it through this together.


	33. Chapter 32

**Author's Note: **Some of you may have noticed that I did a lot of updating the previous day. The reason is because several people pointed out I mixed up Spock Prime's alias and Spock's dad's name. To justify myself, there's only a one letter difference between Salek and Sarek. So I fixed my mistakes so now things should be a little more clear. Sorry for the confusion!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 32_

There wasn't much fanfare for their arrival at the Vulcan Embassy. If anything the Vulcans at the embassy were trying their hardest to make the entire ordeal as unassuming and inconsequential as possible. They exited the car, Spock first followed by Pavel holding both twins, and quickly entered the embassy with their guards. The small group marched through the building until they reached a set of large double doors. They were ushered through and their escorts closed the doors behind them once they were through.

Standing there next to a desk was Selek, the Vulcan that had helped them both with many things and also happened to be Spock from an alternate timeline. However, more frightening was Spock's father Sarek standing from the desk. Selek, Sarek; why did Vulcan names have to be to similar? There was only a two letter different between their names. Pavel hoped he didn't mix them up.

The Vulcan's nodded to each other in a silent greeting. Spock stood in front of the young human and their children. Pavel himself didn't think his interaction with Sarek would be any different than the first time he had met him so he nodded to him and waved at Selek with a smile once he set the twins on a seat against the wall. He took off their jackets and his own as it was extremely warm in the building, probably to make the Vulcans who lived and worked there more comfortable. Personally, his prince and princess were started to sweat in their jackets so he took them off as soon as he could.

"I requested for you and your offspring," Sarek stated.

"My healer sent you my session files. You should know why I will not let Mr. Chekov out of my sight," Spock growled in return. Pavel felt an uncomfortable sting at Spock using his last name. Were they still mates if the bond was intact? He had assumed so. Though there was a small part of him that was happy Spock was giving him time to adjust to everything changing again.

Before Sarek could open his mouth to argue Selek interfered. "It is good to see you both in good health. I did what I could with the media. As is common, they refused to not publish all of the information. It is unfortunate that your identity was revealed anyway."

Blinking, Pavel took a moment to process everything while the twins looked at the office. "It is fine. Zere is only so much zat can be done vhen one lives on a family oriented street. He gave the old Vulcan a reassuring smile. "I just need to vait until zis blows over."

"That will not be for a long while," Selek replied with a grim look in his eyes.

"Indeed," Sarek seemed to agree, "You will not need to bother with any of this if you choose to. Simply release the children to Spock and allow the bonds to be broken. You will have nothing to do with this then."

Spock gave a loud, threatening snarl and took a few steps forward. Selek looked shocked and a little disturbed. Neither of them could prepare themselves for what happened next. Pavel marched up of Spock's father and slapped him as hard as he could. His hand stung, but there was a temporary bright green mark on the man's cheek. It was so satisfying that the young man didn't care that he could get in trouble.

"Vhere do you get off telling me vhat to do?" he hissed like an angry cat. "I hawe been kidnapped, zreatened, abused, and betrayed vizin ze last year. Ze only zing zat kept me going vere my children. I carried zem, I birzed zem, I cared for zem, I vill be newer giwe zem to ze likes of you." By the time he was done snarling his response he was mere inches from the biological grandfather of his children.

"You over step your bounds," Sarek said in an even voice.

"You over step yours," Spock growled as he pulled Pavel back towards him gently.

"I must agree with Spock. This behavior is most illogical, Sarek," Selek spoke up.

The arguing continued; well, arguing by Vulcan standards. The youngest adult out of the group was fed up with the entire thing. He just wanted to raise his children in peace! Maybe get some answers too.

"Hov about telling me vhat else of my body vas changed?" he snapped after hearing the same statistics for the third time now. "I deserve to knov vhat being mated to a Wulcan has done to me!"

That silenced all three Vulcans and forced their attention onto him. He stood in dark jeans, a blue shirt, and a pair of sneakers with his hands on his hips. Blue eyes glared at them as his messy blonde hair was left to hang around his face.

"Mr. Chekov, we do not speak of such—"

"I hawe a right to knov!" he yelled at Sarek before he could finish talking.

"Vulcan males have a hormone within their ejaculate which can slightly alter the biology of any male partner they have. These changes become permanent, even without new hormones entering the body," Selek summarized quickly.

Nodding, Pavel was about to say something else when two quiet whines caught his attention. Whipping around, he saw both Vitaliy and Lyusya quickly toddling towards him. With practiced ease he picked them up at the same time. They clung to him, burying their heads into his neck. Worry consumed him so he looked at where they had come from. His breath froze at the sight of the small bug on the wall.

"Ve need to leave." His voice cut off whoever was currently speaking.

"Why?" Spock asked with a tilt of his head.

"Malvirum Beetle," he gasped out before grabbing the jackets and forcing the twins into them. "On ze vall is a Malvirum Beetle! Evacuate the entire building!"

There was no proof, but the twins could seriously be hurt by those things and he wasn't taking the chance. Once the twins were dressed he raced out of the door, Spock right behind him with Selek and Sarek bringing up the rear. Making it outside, Pavel could only think of the possible harm his children may have gained. He didn't realize how much of a field day the media would have with everything.

* * *

After finally getting away from the admirals Jim managed to corner Leonard in Jim's room where the man would be staying until the media left his doorstep.

"What's with you, Bones? I know you; you would never give up a chance to rag on Spock for being emotional," Jim demanded.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the younger man. "Really, Jim? Selek said Spock would be extremely volatile for a while because those he sees as his mate and children were put in danger. His instincts are saying that he failed them and with them back he refuses to let it happen again. The hobgoblin is trying to prove he can protect Pavel and the kids to both them and himself. Add to that everything Pavel has had to go through; I'm not willing to get in the way. I like my head where it is, thank you"

"So you're just going to let him be? No teasing?"

"Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to pick a fight with an emotional compromised Vulcan? I'm a doctor, not you, Jim." Leonard smirked as blonde captain's jaw dropped.


	34. Chapter 33

**Author's Note: ** Alright then! I love how if I make a mistake people tell me. One reviewer mentioned the proper spelling of Spock Prime's name based on fan theory since it's never mentioned in the movies. I want to give a big thanks to them since when I looked it up it made a lot more sense than the spelling I was using. I've gone back and fixed each one. Some of you may not care, but it helps to make things clear.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 33_

Studiously ignoring the heavy disapproving gazes from the full blooded Vulcans on the street around him, Pavel knelt on the ground and examined his children. Physically they looked fine, but he knew better. Lyusya had yet to let go of her brother or Pavel himself. Her little face was scrunched up in a distressed frown while Vitaliy openly shed tears of discomfort. His little prince was clinging to both Lyusya and Pavel, burying his face in his mother's chest. Pavel himself could feel the chaotic emotions of the two through their bonds. Needless to say he was beating himself up over not noticing the increase in anxiety earlier. Spock stood next to them, poised so that he was facing the largest portion of the group around them while still keeping an eye on the others. A rush of security flowed through the young man's veins. He was so grateful that he was there to protect them from the angry Vulcans around them.

The specialists came and flooded the embassy building. It was rather a little interesting that it was the same company that had screened and cleaned all of Starfleet campus.

"That is enough. Do not coddle them," Sarek's voice drifted to his ears.

Whipping around he glared at Spock's father with as much venom as he could. He opened his mouth to argue back when a deep growl came from Spock. Snapping his mouth closed with an audible click of his teeth he returned his attention to his children.

"You have no right to say such things," the Ambassador's son snarled. "The Malvirum Beetles have affected you. You know not what you speak."

"If I have been affected, then so have you," Sarek responded with a voice that actually sounded angry.

"Everyone, including myself will be looked at by healers," Selek intervened, raising his hands to placate both father and son.

The two narrowed their eyes at each other before Sarek turned to talk to someone else. Spock continued to glare at his father back and finally Pavel couldn't take it anymore.

"Spock," he sighed when the father of his children looked at him. "Just drop it for now." When there looked to be an argument building in those expressive block eyes the blonde charged forward. "Please, Spock. Do it for Lyusya and Vitaliy. Zey do not need zis right now."

The older of the two visibly deflated at the reminder that he wasn't just looking after his mate. They had children to take care of and raise. What sort of example was he showing the twins by arguing with his father like this during a dangerous moment? Selek patted his shoulder discretely in apology for the entire debacle and left to try and placate other volatile Vulcans.

Kneeling down with the one that gave his children life, Spock easily wrapped the three in his long arms. The twins' bonds sang with the reassurance he was giving them. The small Russian tensed just the smallest bit before relaxing. Was his mate fearful of his touch? Did that mean that when he willingly entered Spock's embrace after the kidnapping that he did it only out of stress?

"I apologize. You are correct, the children come first," he hesitated before placing his nose in those curly blonde locks. There was another flinch, but he wasn't pushed away. What could it mean? "As soon as we are cleared by the medic response team we shall leave for your home." He specifically mentioned going back to the apartment the small family had been living in due to its familiarity. Being in a familiar environment would ease all of their nerves. Plus the added security that both Spock and Jim had installed made it that much more of a safer place to be.

"I seriously can't leave anyone from the Enterprise alone for a few minutes before something happens, can I?" the familiar Southern drawl of Leonard McCoy came from behind Spock. The huddled parents looked up to see the doctor frowning down at them in his usual grumpy expression. "Alright, which one of you is going first?"

"Vitaliy," Pavel instantly fired off. His little prince would likely be affected more because he was more emotional than his sister on a normal day.

Lyusya was passed to Spock and though her grip changed from Pavel's shirt to Spock's, her eyes never left her brother. Vitaliy absolutely refused to let go of Pavel. It took them nearly four minutes to get the little quarter Vulcan to turn his head towards his honorary uncle. Due to his experience and knowledge of the twins, it didn't take long for him to find out what was wrong. Especially since he had a brain scanning tricorder that was programmed to look for Malvirum Beetle effects and the same device was familiar with the twins.

"Looks like Vitaliy here is experiencing increased fear. Beetles probably turned his curiosity into fear," Leonard murmured to them. He probably meant for only them to hear, but since Vulcans' have extremely good hearing compared to humans probably every Vulcan around heard him. "All right, next up is the Russian Princess," Leonard joked. He refused to call them by any other nickname once they started copying Pavel's accent. "Huh, Lyusya here seems unaffected. She only seems distressed because her brother is." He looked at the two parents silently asking who was next.

"Mr. Che-" Spock cut himself off when the young man looked up at him with a hurt look. Clearing his throat he continued, "Pavel will go first, Doctor."

"Alright Kid, stay still will ya? You want to set a good example for the kids," Leonard laughed.

"I have never made your job difficult," Pavel pouted at his roommate. All that managed to get him was a louder laugh that brought disgruntled Vulcan stares. The tricorder gave a beep and the doctor looked down at it.

"Well, other than a large amount of parental protectiveness you're fine. A logical response to the twins' distress. The Russian Princess must get the resistance to the beetles from you." Leonard nodded before turning his attention to Spock. "Come on, you're next Spock."

Silently, the half Vulcan sat through the tricorder scanning him. Pavel could honestly say he was worried about the results. Would have be the same as last time? He wasn't sure he could handle going through something like that again, especially with the twins to look after. If he did become violent again, would he hurt the twins? The beep finally came and both adults held their breaths in uneasy anticipation.

"Well, I can honestly say that whatever you've been doing with that Vulcan healer has been working. There's still a bit of damage, but it's not recent. I'd recommend continuing to see that healer and get a scan done every few weeks so we can track the progress," Leonard summed up.

There was a moment where they simply sat there in relieved silence. Then they stood, Pavel needing help since his legs had long since fallen asleep from kneeling for so long, and bid farewell to the doctor accusing them of leaving him to the wolves. Pavel simply gave him a tired smile and promised a warm stew for dinner when he returned to the apartment.

"Do you wish for me to stay in the apartment with you?" Spock asked once they were far enough away from the group that even Vulcans wouldn't hear them.

Pavel blinked while thinking the request over. Did he want Spock there at the apartment? Lyusya didn't seem likely to release her father anytime soon. In all honesty the young man did feel safer with the Vulcan around, even with all the security updates.

"You can stay if you vant," he replied as a cab pulled forward.

"As you wish." For some very strange reason Pavel felt extremely pleased to hear those words.


	35. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

**Key:** Italics = Flashback

* * *

_Chapter 34_

Pavel was frustrated to the point that he was ready to scream, but he wouldn't do it since he would end up hurting his children because of their sensitive ears. After the Malvirum Beetle episode at the Vulcan Embassy, absolutely nothing had calmed down.

The media still hounded him to the point that he barely made it out the door most of the time. It had gotten so bad that he hadn't been able to go to work in three days. Daniel had been very understanding, bless his sweet soul. The man had been more worried about the possible effects the entire debacle would have on the twins. Truly Pavel didn't know where he would have ended up or what he would have done without Daniel.

The evening that Pavel, his children, and Spock had returned to the apartment things had been suspiciously quiet. There had been no reporters outside the building, something that seemed strange since it had been swarmed earlier that day. They made it inside with no distractions or hindrances.

_As soon as the door was locked behind them the small Russian sighed and made his way to the kitchen after placing the twins in the living room on a soft mat for them to nap on. He trusted either Spock or Lyusya to look after Vitaliy seeing as he was the most affected out of the three with Vulcan heritage. Pavel went around the kitchen collecting ingredients for a homemade stew using the leftover ham from the night before. He had started boiling water while he chopped up the ham and vegetables, placing them in bowls for when the water was ready. Just as he was finishing the ham, placing the bone on the top of the pile of ham, Spock came into the small kitchen._

_"__Are you hungry? I could make you something after I finish chopping ze carrots," Pavel asked after glancing up at the taller man for moment before returning to his preparations._

_"__I will have some of the salad that was a part of supper last night. Continue with your preparations, I am able to get it myself," Spock responded._

_"__How are ze children?"_

_"__They are resting." The Vulcan put the leftover salad back in the fridge and took a bit of the portion he had taken for himself. "I am surprised that you accept me being here with you alone."_

_Pausing for a few seconds Pavel contemplated his answer. "Velll, I do not know vhy I do not mind you being here," he hedged. "Zere is something that makes me vant you near. If not for me zen for ze twins."_

_They stood in silence as Spock ate and Pavel worked on the stew. Once he was done with his late meal, Spock placed the used dish and fork in the dishwasher. Turning to face the Russian the older man watched those small, long fingered hands work with the knife and vegetables. There was a split second where the Commander relished in the fact that this creature of simple aesthetics, graceful movements, and nurturing personality was his mate to have and hold. He just needed to earn that right back._

_"__Do you not fear me for all I have done to you?" he asked, unable to help himself._

_"__I do not fear you; I simply do not hold a large amount of trust in you." Pavel finally added the ingredients into the large pot on the stove._

_"__How can I make our relationship better?"_

_Pavel turned to the Vulcan and crossed his arms. Did he want a better relationship?_

_"__Be zere for ze twins."_

_"__What about you?"_

_"__Let time tell us."_

After that they had a light supper, put the children to bed and then slept in different rooms as they had been since the smaller of the two had been rescued. The relief from the media didn't last long. Once they awoke the next morning the media was there taking photos whenever they thought they could see someone through the dimmed and blinded windows. Leonard complained, Jim scowled, and the twins pouted over still not being allowed outside.

"Seriously, why can't they just leave you guys alone?" Jim had snarled at one point.

Finally, three days after the Vulcan Embassy incident Pavel was fed up with the situation. He holed himself in his room telling Spock to watch the twins while he did something important. Reluctantly the Vulcan left him alone, telling Jim and Leonard to do the same. It wasn't until lunch time when the good doctor was about to charge up the stairs and drag the smaller man down that he emerged from the room. His normally carefree face was stern as he placed a folder of papers on the table and sat down to eat.

"Is everything alright, Kid?" Leonard asked a little concerned.

"The reporters vill be taken care of in a few hours. Mr. Vest promised. He said something about zreatening a law suit based on stalking," the young man replied. Mr. West was truly a good man and a superb lawyer.

"So what else were you doing up there this whole time?" Jim asked as Spock simply watched the youngest of the group eat.

"I vas talking to Starfleet. Zey have an interesting solution to all of zis. I have been negotiating vith zem." Now that raised a few eyebrows.

"What has Starfleet suggested?" Spock finally spoke.

"Since ze reporters vill eventually come back, zey have offered to let me stay aboard the next ship zat leaves Earth."

"What?" the three other men roared. Lyusya glared at them when Vitaliy whined. Spock immediately calmed down and doted on the two.

"Why would you do that?" Leonard asked in a rush.

"Ze reporters vill come back, but I also heard zat the Wulcan Council vants to contest my right to my children." For the first time since coming downstairs the Russian looked up, a deep seated fury churned in Spocks stomach at seeing the same emotion in his mate's eyes. "I vill not give zem up. If I have to fight for zem or run vith zem I vill. Starfleet has offered support," Pavel growled out.

"So you decided going to space would be a good idea?" Jim asked with an incredulous tone.

Pavel turned to him and smirked, mischief flickering in his eyes. Spock felt his breath hitch silently at the sight of those sparkling eyes.

"Ve vill be safe. I argued over vhich ship I board. I get to vork part time as a navigator too."

"Which ship have you been assigned to?" Spock asked, anxiety suddenly coursing through his veins.

Three beeps went off in synch. The older men all took out their PADDs to check the new message while Pavel smiled and gently cleared Vitaliy's face of applesauce. He heard Jim laugh and Leonard start sputtering in the way he always did when he was caught off guard. He looked at Spock from the corner of his eye. The Vulcan was looking at him with a slight upturn of his lips.

"Welcome to the Enterprise crew, Pavel."

Warmth swelled in Pavel's heart at the words. It had taken hours of arguing to get Starfleet to allow him on the Enterprise, but he had done it. He had nearly given up hope on returning to space, but now he could do just that and raise his children at the same time. The best of both worlds were now his.


	36. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 35_

"Mr. Chekov, over here!"

"Mr. Chekov, a word!"

"Can we have a picture with the kids?"

"Mr. Chekov, could—"

Keeping his hat low over his face, Pavel marched towards the Enterprise. His twins copied him with their shoulders back and hats down. Being on the Enterprise would make dealing with paparazzi a thing of the past. Oh, what a relief that would be.

Spock walked in front of them, eyes sharp and ready to intervene if the need arose. One could never tell how zealous a reporter would get when they smelled a story. Thankfully this was a smart group and they kept their distance.

As he entered the shadow of the Enterprise, Pavel felt a familiar thrill run down his spine. The best ship Starfleet had to offer was before him, though he couldn't see the pretty lady with his hat in the way. She was his first ship and soon he would join her in space once again. This time he would be busier than ever. While he would only work part time on the bridge doing what he had been trained to do, he was still responsible for the twins. The young parent had set things up with Leonard so that Lyusya and Vitaliy would stay in medbay while he worked. At least in medbay they would be safe from other crew members.

Finally, after a ceremony and a small press conference about how things would go on the missions they went on, Pavel was back on board the Enterprise. He took a deep breath of the air that smelt of adventure and excitement. He couldn't wait for the first mission; for the first time he sat behind his station again.

Spock placed a hand on his shoulder, leading him to the bridge with the rest of the command crew. The Vulcan had been actively interacting with his children, getting to know them and understanding them. He knew that the young man that had birthed them wanted them to be free to express themselves as they wanted and Spock respected that. It was still a little irritating that Lyusya tended to take after Spock and not let her emotions show. There was some solace in the fact that Vitaliy was every bit a momma's boy. Throughout his stay with the young man, as he refused to leave the apartment without them, Spock had tried to be friendlier towards Pavel. It had worked, to a point. The blonde still flinched away from any type of physical contact from the older man and seemed to analyze everything the Vulcan said. Nothing seemed to deter Spock though as he continued to speak reassurances that he would not hurt the twins or Pavel again and seemed to take every chance he got to physically touch the small blonde.

"Should I not be settling into my room?" Pavel asked as they boarded the turbolift with Jim, Uhura, and Hikaru.

"I thought it'd be nice for you and the kids to watch the take off," Jim smiled at him, gently tapping each child on the nose once. Spock had become better at letting others touch his mate and children, but only marginally so.

Uhura seemed to seethe at the news, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at the lift doors. Hikaru smiled and wiggled his fingers at Lyusya who was staring at him inquisitively. Spock's hand moved to rest between his shoulders and rubbed in small circles in a comforting manner. Despite himself, Pavel relaxed just the smallest bit as the tension he hadn't known he was feeling eased. Well, eased only to be replaced with a different kind of tension that Pavel he had come to associate with the black haired man.

The doors opened and Pavel was guided to stand next to the Captain's chair. Jim smiled at him as he took his place, Spock quickly preparing his spot before returning to his mate's side. Lyusya and Vitaliy wiggled and squirmed in their mother's arms trying to see as much as they could, wishing desperately to toddle about and investigate their surroundings. The blonde parent decided to ignore Uhura's disgusted sounding scoff as she sat at her station. The naive part of him wanted to just say she was having a bad day, but he knew better. She didn't like him because of how close he was with Spock. They weren't really that close, but he had heard from Jim that she and Spock had broken up. She probably blamed him.

"Is there a problem, Uhura?" Jim asked in a stern voice.

"No, Captain," she replied tersely.

Ah, that was so very convincing.

The turbolift opened again letting Leonard join the bridge. He smiled and waved before standing on Jim's left as he always did.

"All set in the medbay," he reported.

"Sweet." He pressed the com button on the air of his chair, "How're we looking, Scotty?"

"Oh, the lass is ready to go, Captain," came the Scottish accent over the line.

"Well then, let's take off, Sulu," he ordered with a grin.

Pavel stood firm as the Enterprise took off on her next adventure. He couldn't wait to see where they went first.

* * *

He took back his earlier statement at take off.

Pavel wanted nothing more than for all of this to end. Better yet, to turn around and stay on Earth.

What could possibly make him wish for the exact opposite of his current situation?

Well, that had to deal with the fact that he was getting harassed by some engineers. Of course, they had waited until he had dropped the twins off for a nap in medbay where they could be cooed over by the medical staff. All he wanted was to get some food from the cafeteria. They cornered him on his way back, laughing as they asked if he was free for the night. They claimed to be able to show him a good time.

Of course he had told them off, he was a parent for crying out loud. Well they took exception to that. Just as one of them was pulling their fist back to punch him, Spock appeared out of nowhere. He took hold of the drawn back arm and squeezed.

"It would be wise to leave Mr. Chekov and the children alone if you wish to stay on the Enterprise," he stated in a flat voice. However, from spending so much time together, Pavel knew the Vulcan was extremely close to snapping their necks.

Pavel sighed when the group left. He had honestly thought that people would have forgotten or at least were at least smart enough not to mess with him seeing as he had kids onboard.

"Zank you," the younger of the two murmured. At least the food didn't spill.

"They should not have targeted you. They will be punished accordingly." Yep, Spock was beyond angry.

Just as he was about to continue on to medbay, the blonde felt a large hand rest between his shoulders again. Flinching, he tried to move away, but the hand followed. Why did Vulcans have to be so damn stubborn? Together they picked up the twins, who had gotten ahold of a laser that wasn't a harmless pointer, and retired to their rooms. Much to Pavel's dismay his room was linked to Spock's by the bathroom. He had been hoping for his old quarters, but he should have expected Starfleet to do this to appease Spock's protective streak.

"I will see you tomorrow. Good night, Pavel, Lyusya, Vitaliy."

With that the tallest of the group left and entered his room through the bathroom. Sighing, the younger man set the twins down with the food.

Maybe going to space again wasn't such a good idea.


	37. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 36_

"Come on Pavel! Why not bring the kids up?" Jim asked after multiple subtle attempts which Pavel had ignored on purpose.

"I am on duty, Keptin. Ze children have no need to be on ze bridge," the young Russian responded without turning his attention away from his station screen. This was his first day working on the Enterprise again and he was happy that going back to work was just like getting back on a bicycle again.

"Fine then, Mr. Chekov. I want to play with the kids." The only one with children on the ship felt a twitch in his eye at the whining tone his Captain used. This man was supposed to be leading them on successful missions, not begging to play with a subordinate's children like the over grown toddler Leonard accused him of being.

From the corner of his eye he noticed Spock frowning. Most likely the older man disapproved of the Captain's behavior as much as Pavel did. On the other side of him Sulu was trying very hard not to laugh. The Asian man's shoulders were shaking and his face was starting to turn red from trying to hold his mirth in. Even though he couldn't see her, Pavel knew Uhura was glaring at him from behind and blaming him for the lack of professionalism among the crew. The Communication's officer had made things very clear from the moment they were in warp drive. She blamed him for her breakup with Spock even though it had been explained to her countless times that the Vulcan had broken up with her because they wanted different things. The bond Spock had with Pavel made him instinctively reject any other being that may have an interest in him, even when the bond had been smothered. Still she felt the blonde was the reason for the relationship ending. Irrational behavior if Pavel ever saw it.

"If you vant to play vith ze children zen you can visit zem during your off hours," Pavel said simply in return. There really was no reason for the twins to be on the bridge. This was the work place, not a play area for kids. Why couldn't Jim see that?

"But you always hole up in medbay!" Seriously, when would he stop.

"Zen stop by. Zere is nothing preventing you from going zere." Hopefully he didn't sound snippy in that last response. Perhaps he was too used to the quiet of Brilliant Repairs.

That reminded him, he should send a video message to Daniel when he got the chance. He missed working in the shops a lot more than he had anticipated.

"Yes there is! Bones is there with his hypos of doom!" Jim threw his hands up in a dramatic fashion.

Just as the part time crew member was about to open his mouth to give a testy reply, Uhura interrupted him.

"There's an incoming transmission from Starfleet, Captain." There was definitely some attitude in those words.

"On screen," Jim commanded in a serious voice.

Admiral Richard Barnett appeared on the screen looking tired, but clearly relieved to see the Enterprise bridge crew.

"Captain Kirk."

"Admiral Barnett, what can I do for you?"

"Just checking to make sure everyone made it on board. The Vulcan counsel has not so subtly threatened us with a lawsuit if we don't hand the children over to them."

Pavel stiffened at his words, his head shooting up to stare at the Admiral. The Vulcan's were trying still trying to take his children away from him.

"Don't worry, Mr. Chekov. We've got them neck deep in legal papers and a counter suit thanks to your lawyer." The man on the screen leaned onto the surface in front of him, most likely a desk. "I do however want to pass on an order."

"Alright, what's this order?" Jim asked with a bit of concern. Pavel understood why most of the crew were looking at him now, this order had to do with him.

"A man by the name of David Hamilton has been on the run for a while now. He violated his parole and was seen a near a space port a few days ago. He managed to get on a ship. He has an unhealthy obsession with Mr. Chekov. Keep an eye out for him."

Pavel felt his world collapse underneath him. David still hadn't been caught and he was in space now. His ex-husband was chasing after him. What would happen if he caught up with them? Oh, God; what would he do to the twins? His breath started shortening into gasps. Voices around him were nothing but a static haze. His vision was starting to go black as he couldn't get enough air. He was suffocating, but he couldn't stop it.

Then there were hands pulling him from his chair into a strong embrace. One hand cradled the back of his head, forcing his face into a strong chest. The other arm curled around his waist, pulling him close to a sturdy body. The hand in his hair started petting, fingers massaging his scalp. Slowly his breathing returned to normal and his hearing returned. Everything was so loud now, and his eyes watered from the pain. A pained whimper escaped him as he held onto Spock's shirt tighter. When had he taken hold of it to begin with?

"Mr. Spock, take him to Bones. Make sure him and the kids are alright," Pavel heard Jim order.

"What did he do—"

"You will hold your tongue, Uhura!"

Before he could hear more Spock whisked him away to the turbolift. They were silent for the trip down. Shock started to settle in and the young man's legs gave out on him. Without prompting the Vulcan picked the smaller male up and held him as if he was holding Vitaliy. His legs were maneuvered so that they were wrapped around the older man's waist. The door opened and Spock made a speedy trip to medbay, glaring a snickering Ensign into silence.

"I heard what happened," was the first thing Leonard said when they entered, "Come in the back, the kids are there."

Not needing to be told twice, Spock marched into the play room for the twins. The moment they entered the room the twins were toddling towards them as fast as possible. Spock sat on the plush carpet and turned Pavel around so that he could see the concerned faces of their children. With a strangled sob the blonde reached out and pulling the two towards him. Lyusya started to pet his face trying to wipe away tears he hadn't known he was shedding. Vitaliy cooed at him and nuzzled into his chest. Pavel held them tightly to him as Spock nuzzled his blonde hair.


	38. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 37_

"You do not need to push yourself, Pavel," Spock told the young man as they walked at a brisk pace towards the turbolift a few days after the news of David came.

"Yes I do." Pavel kept his gaze ahead of him as they walked; he was still embarrassed about Spock seeing his breakdown. Logically it was only a matter of time before he had yet another one after everything he had gone through, but that had been before it was discovered that their bond was damaged and smothered. "I must show zat I can fight zrough it. Zat Hamilton vill not vin."

"If you feel unable to make it through shift for any reason, let the captain know. He will let you leave."

They stopped in front of the lift and finally the smaller man looked at the other with a mild glare.

"I am not fragile, Spock. I vill vork as I am supposed too. I do not need to be treated any more differently zan I already am," he said with a hard voice.

Spock looked at him; virtually staring into his soul through their eye contact. Then ever so slightly the Vulcan's shoulders drooped and he nodded.

"As you wish, Pavel. Just know that should you require assistance, I will be at my station."

There was that shockingly sweet and considerate side again. Over the last few days Spock had been making an obvious effort to show Pavel that he cared for their small family. He had held Pavel and the twins until they had calmed down. He brought them food, ate with them, met them at Pavel's hallway door every morning, and even started giving each of them a Vulcan kiss when he dropped them off at the same spot every evening. It was almost sickening how endearing the Commander had become.

"I vill remember zat, Spock. Zank you." A soft smile appeared on the young man's face. Suddenly, Spock's middle and index finger ever so slightly touched the back of his hand.

"Well isn't this cute?"

The fingers were removed almost as if Spock was reluctant to do so. They turned and saw Jim standing there with his hands on his hips grinning like he won a lottery.

"Captain," the two greeted as the lift doors finally opened and the three stepped inside.

"Oh, don't mind me. I just think you two are cute," Jim chuckled.

"I fail to see how the interactions between Pavel and myself are 'cute,' Captain," Spock replied.

"Oh, come off it Spock. I saw what just happened." Pavel swore the man was cackling. He probably would if he saw the slight blush on Pavel's cheeks and the slight green tinted flush that traveled all the way to Spock's ears. "Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut."

Yeah and Pavel had been born yesterday. Jim would find a way to tell Leonard without anyone else knowing before the end of shift. He would put money on it.

The doors opened again and they walked onto the bridge. As he sat down Sulu leaned over and asked if he was alright. Pavel smiled and nodded, before turning to his station. It was time to work.

* * *

"Look, we did what you asked. We got the kid and his kids, and then we gave them to Edwards. It's not our fault she had other plans!" Mr. Jackson growled.

"Please, we did what you told us to," Mrs. Jackson whimpered. "We even got you this ship to use."

"You listen here. You'll do as I say or your brats will have a lot more to worry about than just _your_ health," a man from the shadows said.

"But we have been following your orders!" Mr. Jackson roared, pointing a phaser at the man.

"Honey no! Think of the kids!" Mrs. Jackson screamed, pushing her husband's arm so the weapon was pointing in a different direction.

"I'd listen to your wife. Only I know where your brats are and only I have a say in whether they live or not," the man gloated. "Let me know when we have eyes on the ship that has my family on it." With that the man walked away.

"Damn I hate that asshole," Mr. Jackson growled.

"Just think about the kids, Dear," Mrs. Jackson consoled.

"I don't like doing this. Pavel is a good kid and a great dad. He's trying so hard and we're only making things harder for him."

"I know, I know. I don't like it either, but what else can we do? He bribed the police to ignore him kidnapping our kids. We have no choice."

"What do you think will happen after all this is done? If we don't keep silent he'll get rid of us like he did Edwards."

"I'm scared."

"I know, I am too."

The couple hugged each other, both damning the man known as David Hamilton.

* * *

Pavel sat on the floor of his room helping Lyusya with her handwriting. The almost three year olds had started to show an interest in writing on paper so Pavel had found some blank journals and started to teach them how to write with pens. They were working on printing right now, but the blonde was sure they would move onto cursive in a few weeks. Maybe he should teach them Russian too. They already copied his accent.

A knock on the door caught his attention. He walked up to the door and opened it just the slightest bit. Smiling, he opened the door to let Spock enter with supper for the four.

"Good evening, Spock. Vhat did you bring today?" Pavel greeted.

"I brought an array of fruits and vegetables, beef stew, and Polmeek soup," Spock replied. He set the food on the coffee table within the room and looked at the children on the floor. "What are they learning?"

"Oh, they saw me writing a lot back on Earth and wanted to try it."

Vitaliy suddenly gave a distressed cry and pulled away from his journal, Lyusya fussing a few seconds later. Both parents raced towards the children. The little boy reached out for Pavel and the young man could see the small paper cut that slowly oozed a light green colored blood. He picked up his little boy while Spock picked up Lyusya. Quickly, Pavel cleaned the cut and placed a Band-Aid on it.

"Vell, I zink zat is enough learning for today," he commented as he placed Vitaliy in Spock's arms so he could pick up the writing things.

"Indeed," Spock nodded, sitting on the couch and placing the twins on the floor so they could get closer to the food. Pavel joined Spock on the couch soon after putting the lesson things away. "I do not have duty tomorrow. Is there something you wish to do together?"

Pavel blinked at the sudden question. He hadn't thought Spock would want to spend his free day with him and the kids.

"Ze twins vanted to go to ze observation deck to look at ze stars. Maybe ve could bring food vith us and have a picnic," the Russian mused.

"Stars!" Vitaliy smiled up at his parents, excited by the idea.

"Ve vant to see ze stars," Lyusya agreed looking hopeful.

"Then we will go the observation deck. Is there anything specific you wish me to prepare for consumption?" Spock asked.

"Just bring vhat you vant. I vill take can of ze rest."

They continued with their meals; Spock even letting the twins try his Polmeek soup. Vitaliy had scrunched up his nose like Pavel had the first time he had tried the dish, but Lyusya had eagerly asked for a small portion for tomorrow. Once everyone was finished eating the dishes were set aside to go back to the dining hall. Or was it galley? He had heard both while on the Enterprise. After putting the twins to bed with kisses on their foreheads the two adults found themselves standing by the door.

"Good night, Spock."

"Good night, Pavel."

Spock lightly dusted a Vulcan kiss onto the back of his hand again and before he could stop himself, Pavel turned his hand over and returned the gesture, having their finger tips just barely touching each other. The Vulcan sucked in a quick breath and Pavel himself gasped. There was an amazing sensation of warmth running up and down the young man's arm and spreading throughout the rest of his body. He looked up into Spock's eyes only to see them filled with longing and desire. A sudden craving to give Spock a human kiss over took him. Just as he was about to act on the sudden need to feel Spock's lips against his, the Vulcan pulled away.

"Sleep well, Pavel."

With that Spock left like he always did. Pavel wasn't sure he wanted that to happen anymore.


	39. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 38_

Pavel laughed as he watched the twins excitedly show off their writing skills to Spock the next day. The small family had moved a large plush blanket up to the observation deck with a basket of food. Spock joined them as promised with some Vulcan dishes as he said he would. Since they hadn't done so the night before, Lyusya and Vitaliy proudly showed their father the lines of print they had accomplished. Lyusya's wasn't as neat as her brother's, but she was getting there.

The young Russian was just about to go rescue the seemingly overwhelmed Vulcan when his PADD went off. Frowning a little he picked it up and blinked in surprise at the name. Why on Earth was Daniel calling him?

"Daniel? To vhat do I owe ze pleasure?" he asked as soon as the video call connected.

"I need your brain." The elderly man looked tired and frustrated. "A customer came in with a cell phone that just doesn't work. It does the normal stuff, but it doesn't make noise for incoming texts or calls."

Pavel gave the man a deadpan look. "Is the wolume set on silent?"

"No, and nothing is wrong with the wiring or anything else internal either, I checked that."

"Did you turn it off for a few minutes and then turn is back on?"

The other was silent for a few minutes before he turned his attention to something in his hands. Pavel took this time to note that Daniel was in the shop, he could see the shinny little bell above the front door in the background.

"I feel stupid for not trying that earlier." Daniel sighed and turned his attention back to the young man. "I just had one of the boys test it. Stupid thing works now. Sorry for the call."

"Not a problem. How long have you been in ze shop?"

Pavel looked at the hand that suddenly appeared on his shoulder. He followed the connected arm up to find Spock looking at him with curiosity. The blonde mouthed the word work and the other nodded, directing the twins to the blanket to have their mid-morning fruit snack.

He turned to look back at his boss who was smiling sadly at him. "I've been here too long I'm afraid. I never realized how much you did here until you were gone. You will come back eventually right? I'm not sure I'll survive without you helping out here."

"Do not be dramatic, Daniel," the young man laughed even as a light dusting of pink fell onto his cheeks. He couldn't remember the last time he had been given praise for his work. "I vant to make sure ze media is not going to stalk us. I must put ze twins first."

"I understand. We'll get by, but remember that you're always welcome to come back to us. The boys miss you too by the way."

"Tell zem I say hello and zat I miss zem too."

"What's it like being in space again?"

"Different. I zink I became used to being grounded. I cannot say whether I prefer being in space or being on Earth."

He pretended not to notice Spock looking at him when he said that. It was true; he had become accustomed to working for Brilliant Repairs and not being in space. That had been the life he and his children had led and now they were living a different life. As of yet he was unsure if he was happier in space. He had everything he wanted. He was doing his dream job again and raising his children. There was something that nipped at the back of his mind though. Something that told him he shouldn't get too comfortable; that he couldn't hold onto this for long.

"Well I'll let you go. Say 'hi' to the kids for me?" Daniel said.

"Of course. Take care Daniel." Pavel gave a wave and the screen went black, the call ended.

Placing his PADD on the blanket, the young father took a napkin and wiped Vitaliy's cheek clean of peanut butter. He told the two curious little ones that Daniel said hello.

"You are not positive that you wish to stay aboard the Enterprise?" Spock asked as he gave Lyusya her share of the Polmeek soup.

"It is not zat I do not vant to be here, but I am a father now. Lyusya and Vitaliy are my main concerns. Zeir happiness is vhat I must focus on," The young man explained.

"Does that mean you will sacrifice your happiness?" the Vulcan asked.

"Zey are my children. I vill do anything for zem."

"Mama, I vant to draw," Vitaliy said, effectively ending the previous conversation.

Pavel gave him a small blank journal and a pencil. With a smile and an order to have fun the young quarter Vulcan sat on the corner of the blanket to begin his drawing.

"Papa, may I have my book?" Lyusya timidly asked in her quiet voice.

Nodding, Spock gave his little girl the fairy tale book she had been working on reading by herself.

The parents watch the twins do their own activities no more than a foot apart, both laying on their stomachs. Lyusya pushed her hair behind her ears and read the words that her finger moved under. Vitaliy had tucked his hair into the back of his shirt and his tongue stuck out from between his lips as he scribbled away.

"Have they expressed a desire to shorten their hair?" Spock inquired.

"No," Pavel shook his head "ze seem like having long hair. Maybe ve should learn how to braid it for zem? Zen ve could teach zem as ze get older."

"That is an acceptable plan."

Pavel took a bite of his sandwich and opened his own book on electronics. It was a new release and he hadn't had the time to read it until now. He felt Spock's side come in contact with his and the blonde looked up at the other. Spock had some Vulcan style sandwich in his hand and his PADD that probably had work on it in the other. Pavel knew better than to expect the man to actually put down his work for a whole day. Before he had left the Enterprise he had noticed that Spock always used his free day to try and get ahead of paper work by filling it out and then sending it when he was back on duty. Smiling to himself he leaned against the man and continued to read while eating his sandwich. If he had to find one really good thing about being back on the Enterprise it was that he was getting a chance to have an actual relationship with Spock unlike before.


	40. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 39_

When Spock entered McCoy's office in Medbay, he had been expecting to find the doctor filling out the paperwork he always seemed to put off yet still complete in a timely manner. The office was simple and tidy, with photos on the man's daughter on his desk that were nearly hidden by the piles of PADDs that needed to be filled out. That was the normal appearance. What the Commander was seeing right now was far from normal for the CMO's office.

The desk was filled as usual, but there were PADDs spread out along the floor and a large whiteboard with lists and diagrams on it. Leonard was looking at the Vulcan with a raised eyebrow, a PADD in his hand. Pavel stood in front of the whiteboard with a marker in one hand and his personal PADD in the other.

"Can I help you, Mr. Spock?" Leonard asked sounding slightly annoyed.

"I was coming to inquire if you knew of Pavel's location. However, is would seem that I no longer need to do so," Spock replied.

"How are ze twins doing?" Pavel asked.

"They are currently entertaining the Captain on the bridge."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" Leonard asked.

"I stand by my earlier statement," Spock replied with an ever so slight upturn at the corner of his lips.

Pavel laughed, "I agree vith Spock. Ze twins are keeping Jim entertained."

"What are you doing?" the Vulcan questioned as he entered the small space and letting the door close behind him.

"Ve are planning ze twins' birthday party," the blonde smiled as he turned back towards the whiteboard to write something down.

"You are planning the Earth custom of celebrating the birth of an individual."

"Yes, ya hobgoblin." Leonard rolled his eyes at the man. "We're planning this party since on Earth the twins birthday will be coming up in the next few weeks."

"Ve did not celebrate Christmas because Hamilton did not like holidays," Pavel explained. "I vant to make zis perfect for zem."

"In that case it would be wiser to commandeer a section of the dining hall as the Medbay is too small of an area for what you have already planned and in case of an emergency, all personal can reach their stations quickly," Spock said after looking at the whiteboard.

The doctor and part-time navigator looked at each other and blinked.

"What else do you suggest we do, Hobgoblin?" Leonard asked with smirk. Hey, the Vulcan wanted to help so who was he to push away such a diligent and logical worker?

* * *

This was what they had been dreading. The moment they had been trying to prevent by going as slow as they could do without getting caught.

"The Enterprise is within range, Hamilton," Mr. Jackson snarled with barely contained disgust.

"Good, good," the detestable man hummed almost to himself. He ran a hand over his chin and frowned at the scratchy beard he seemed to be growing. He would have to shave that before Pavel and the children saw him. "Keep us on course, just out of their radar. I want this to go perfectly."

With that he walked away leaving the couple still on the bridge.

"Is there any way we could drop the speed again? Or get a message over there to let them know what he's planning?" Mrs. Jackson pleaded to her husband.

"I wish there was. If we slowed down now he would notice so we have to hope we either end up on their radar or they speed up," her husband replied.

"So we could send a message!"

"Not unless we get the security codes from Hamilton." The man started to pace in agitation, "If we got those codes we'd be able to get a message out, but then we'd have to actually get them. It's likely he has them memorized so that there isn't any physical place to find them. Wish I knew where the manual for this rust bucket was. The codes would surely be in there."

"So we're back to praying aren't we?" his wife sighed.

"I wish I could say otherwise, but that's what we have to do." Mr. Jackson hugged his wife, holding her tight and wishing there was some way to go back in time and change all of this.

* * *

Leonard wondered why he always had to walk into a room and discover something strange happening. To make his point, he had left his office, or the party planning room at the moment, to get some coffee and sandwiches. He was gone for a maximum of fourteen minutes! Now he stood in the doorway of his office with Christine looking over his shoulder opening giggling at the sight before them.

Somehow, someway, the Vulcan had gotten covered in glitter. First of all, where in the blue blazing hell did the glitter come from? There certainly hadn't been any in the office when he had left. Second, why was Pavel sitting on the floor by the Vulcan's feet looking like a puppy tangled in streamers? Literally, the boy was covered in a tangled messy knot of streamers. Where had the streamers come from? The two looked at him and blinked, Spock trying to discretely shake the glitter off and Pavel blowing on a piece of colored paper to make it not be in his face.

"Alright, how the hell did this happen?" the doctor asked. He was trying so hard to not laugh at the two of them.

The parents looked at each other then back at Leonard.

"Honestly, I do not know," Pavel shrugged, making the paper crinkle.

"I too find myself unable to discern how our current states came to be," Spock agreed.

"Hey guys, I brought the kids ba—Whoa, what happened to you guys?" Jim asked as his appeared over Leonard's shoulder.

The twins toddled into the room and immediately started to investigate their parent's changed appearance. Vitaliy started patting at the glitter on Spock's leg while Lyusya pushed and pulled the paper party decorations to find her mother in the pile.

"Apparently they don't know how it happened," Leonard huffed.

"Well at least we'll get a picture out of this. Say 'cheese'!" Christine laughed as Spock glared at the camera while Pavel gave a big grin. The twins looked over at the woman, one half covered in bright pink glitter and the other with party streamers draped over her head.


	41. Chapter 40

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 40_

"Papa, vhere is Mama?" the twins asked at the same time as Spock carried them down one of the many hallways in the Enterprise.

The two had spent another eventful day on the bridge where Sulu and Jim had taken turns entertaining them when they could afford a few moments away from their duties. Interestingly enough the two had taken it all with a surprising amount of tolerance as the two adults kept giving them random things to look at and tinker with. Of course they had questioned him on why they were joining him on the bridge again. They had also questioned why they had dressed in their best nicest clothing that morning as well.

An Ensign walking past him, nodding at him before wiggling her fingers at the twins in a wave that could be considered cute to some humans. Of course as soon as he had passed her with his own nod of acknowledgment she had broken out into giggles. Spock had no idea why the sight of him carrying his children was so amusing. It certainly wasn't because of their clothing. The half Vulcan was in his uniform while his children were wearing matching outfits that consisted of nicely pleated black pants, shiny black dress shoes, long sleeved purple shirts, and buttoned up grey vests. Their hair had also been pulled back into long ponytails to keep it out of their faces.

"We are on our way to your mama," Spock replied. It had taken him ages to refer to Pavel as such, but the twins knew the blonde as "Mama" he would call the young man that when speaking of him to the them.

"Vhere are ve going?" Vitaliy asked in his soft voice. Compared to his sister, Vitaliy was extremely quiet. Even for a Vulcan child he was quiet based on what Spock remembered from his childhood.

"We will be meeting your mama in the dining hall."

"Vhy did ve leave after Mr. Sulu and Uncle Jim?" Lyusya asked. If there was something she wanted to know she would be blunt and outspoken about it. For all that she didn't emote she made up for it by being quite talkative.

"We had to clean up the mess we made." At least that was the excuse he was making. The down side to Vulcan children, as he saw it when comparing his children to fully human children, was that they were very apt at finding something that wasn't right. It tended to make things very difficult if one wanted to keep a secret. Spock fondly remembered doing the same when he was younger. His mother had been the most fun to do it to since she would find ways to distract him without giving the secret away.

"Ve did not make zat much of a mess!" the two protested.

"We are here," Spock announced as he stopped far enough away from the dining hall door so that it wouldn't open automatically and ruin the surprise. He set the two down on their feet and held their hands as he led them to the door.

Once the doors opened, there was a collective cheer of "Surprise!" and the twins both audibly gasped and placed their unoccupied hands over their moths. Across the back wall was a banner that read "Happy Birthday" in glitter covered letters and there were paper streamers attached to the walls all around the room. One of the tables was filled with colorfully wrapped gifts on one end and a large rectangular cake on the other that had a candle in the shape of the number one on it. The entirety of the medical crew was there with cameras so they could show pictures to those that couldn't make it. Leonard was looking rather smug while Scotty grinned at the two stunned children. Sulu and Jim had paused in their pretend fight with fake pirate swords to greet the kids; obviously they would be the live entertainment for the party. Lastly, Pavel was grinning to the point where it looked painful. He crouched down and held out his arms; the twins immediately running into them so he could pick them both up at the same time.

"Happy birthday, my Prince and Princess," he greeted.

Spock had not originally understood why it was so important to Pavel that the twins have a party to celebrate their birth. From the way he understood it the blonde had a difficult time during and after his pregnancy. It just hadn't made any sense to the Vulcan. Now seeing the excited glimmer in their children's eyes and the way Pavel seemed to glow with pride and love, he understood. This was to show that no matter how bad things had been, Pavel still loved the twins. They were his and he was proud and happy that they were alive and well. For once Spock understood an Earth custom, and he felt like he could actually be a part of the entire thing.

"Come on, Spock. Join us," Pavel laughed as the twins jumped from his arms to investigate the entire party, already being warned to stay away from the presents.

"I do not know what I should do," the older man replied, watching the way the twins gave hugs to everyone in attendance and thanked them for coming.

"Just be here." The blonde tilted his head and smirked up at him, "And have some cake vhen it is cut."

Spock scrunched his nose ever so slightly at the thought of eating such an overly sugary piece of processed food. The younger man laughed at him before letting him know that there was hardly any frosting on it and that the cake itself was carrot cake, the twins' favorite.

"Jim, I do not think it is wise to teach the children the ways of sword fighting," Spock suddenly spoke up at seeing the captain trying to demonstrate to Lyusya how to fight like a pirate.

"Come on, Spock! Lighten up!" the man whined.

"If they are to learn then they will learn from someone who knows how to sword fight," Spock fired back. "You are doing it wrong and I do not want them learning the improper way to handle a sword."

Everyone laughed at the gob-smacked look that crossed Jim's face. Sulu snickered since he had been wondering if someone would call the other man out on his obvious lack of skill. Pavel smiled, happy that this had all happened just how he wanted it to.

* * *

Uhura couldn't believe that they were having a party for those little brats in the dining hall. She also couldn't believe that everything she had with Spock had been a lie. Well, not everything, but it certainly felt like it!

Sighing, the Communications Officer turned her PADD on to check her emails. She was tired of hearing about how great the twins were and how adorable they looked all the time. Don't even get her started on her thoughts about what people were saying in relation to Spock and Chekov. Oh, how fickle the crew was. One moment you could hear someone being nasty to Chekov and his brats, and the next you would hear someone talking about how cute the whole family was.

It wasn't fair! She was perfect for Spock! She was smart, good looking, hard working, driven, and logical. So why was he with Chekov of all people and not her? Why was Spock even trying to fix their crippled bond when he could start over with her? It just didn't make sense!

A ping from her PADD stopped her from exiting her emails. Huh, that was strange. There wasn't an address or name attached to the message, not even a subject line. Well if it got through the security set for all communications in and out of the Enterprise then Uhura guessed it was alright.

The woman opened the message and began reading. Really? What the heck was this? Was this a joke? Reading through the message again Uhura decided that it was a joke and deleted the message.

If only she knew what she had unleashed onto the Enterprise systems upon opening that message.


	42. Chapter 41

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 41_

The first mission one the roster for the Enterprise and her crew was a diplomatic one to a random planet that wanted to renew its treaty with the Federation. Pavel probably should have paid more attention to the packet that every crewmember received when they approached a new world, but Vitaliy had come down with a cold and Pavel needed to take care of him and watch over Lyusya. Besides, he wasn't allowed on landing teams as part of the deal he had struck with Starfleet. Honestly, he really didn't care. Vitaliy had only just broken his fever after spending the last thirteen hours with an abnormally high temperature even for Vulcans.

Pavel sighed as he replaced the wet rag over his son's forehead. Quietly, he crept away and pulled up the room divider that he had requested so that the fragile child wouldn't be disturbed as easily.

The door from the hallway opened and there was Spock. He looked tired and worried; if someone could see past his Vulcan controlled facial muscles that is. The man had forgone his nightly meditation followed by a few hours of sleep to help watch over his son. Pavel had nearly had a heart attack when the man had come charging into madbay panicked, in a very Vulcan way, just as Leonard was finishing his examination of the small quarter Vulcan.

"How is his condition?" Spock asked quietly as he entered the room, picking his sleeping daughter up from the floor. There had once been a time when the older man had questioned holding the children, but as it turned out the more contact they had with other beings, the stronger their mental walls became as their minds worked on overdrive to protect them from the foreign minds.

"His fever finally broke. He should be fine by ze end of ze day," Pavel softly answered.

"Does Vitaliy become ill frequently?"

"For a Wulcan, yes. It used to be a lot vorse vhen ve lived on Wictoria 6, but he has built up immunity now so these fevers do not last as long."

"I have been assigned to the landing team with the captain," Spock said suddenly.

Pavel gave him a weak smile. "I understand. You are first officer and must keep Jim from doing more harm zan good. Promise to be careful?"

"You have my word," Spock promised.

The Vulcan reached out and traced his index and middle fingers over the back of Pavel's hand. Normally Pavel would have contented himself with the simple Vulcan kiss, but right now he didn't want to. He had another one of those bad feelings and he didn't want Spock to go. He wanted to tell him, but he knew the Vulcan would not pull himself from the landing team roster. So the blonde followed his instincts. He placed the hand that wasn't engaged in a Vulcan kiss on the back of Spock's neck and pulled himself up to connect their lips. For a moment the older one stilled before he put more pressure on their connected lips. It was everything Pavel wanted in that moment, making him sigh in contentment. For Spock he felt the bond between them grow and sing with unrestrained pleasure as it healed significantly more than it had been before this kiss. All too soon they separated they stared into each other's eyes, conveying an unspoken message.

"I will return to you," Spock whispered.

"You better," Pavel responded. Taking his sleeping daughter in his arms the young man watched as the father of his children left to get ready for and leave on his mission.

* * *

It had only been a few hours since the landing team had beamed down to the surface of the planet and Pavel already found himself bored and lonely. Almost all of the bridge crew had gone down leaving him without his biggest supporters on board. So here he was cautiously making his way through the corridors from the dining hall back to his room. He carried a bowl of Polmeek soup for Lyusya and two bowls of chicken soup for himself and Vitaliy. Both twins were sleeping behind the divider and the room was locked with a code only Spock, Jim, or Leonard knew. It was the only way he knew the room would be safe.

A tingle of fear and alarm raced through his spine telling him he was in danger right before something sharp pierced his neck. He heard the distinct hiss of a hypo discharging medication into his body before he could fight off his assailant. Rapidly he lost his sight and hearing, followed by all of his muscles becoming useless. The tray fell to the floor, the bowls spilling their contents all over the floor. A pair of arms caught him before he collapsed to the floor making him panic, yet unable to fight back.

As he lost consciousness he screamed in his mind for someone to save him.

* * *

The second Spock materialized on the teleport pad he was off racing with Scotty shouting at any crew members available to find Pavel. Spock had known the moment his mate had been attacked and left the landing party. Of course the dignitaries wanted an explanation for his need to leave so he told them in a way that the relationship status oriented society would understand.

His husband had been kidnapped and he needed to check on their children before helping to search for him.

Panting, he skidded to a halt and franticly entered the code to open the door. Lyusya came tumbling into his legs and looked up at him with tears running down her small face.

"Mama vas taken and Vitaliy got vorse!" she wailed.

Picking his daughter up Spock hurried inside and took a closer look at his son. The poor boy had broken out into sweats again and was shivering so hard that he looked to be convulsing. The water in the bowl next to the bed was still cold so he wetted the cloth again and proceeded to wipe away the sweat with one hand as the other arm was curled around his daughter.

He had failed Pavel again, but for right now he needed to help their children. Well, he was trying to be logical about this, but he really wanted to find his mate now, not wait for someone else to find and rescue him.


	43. Chapter 42

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 42_

Consciousness returned slowly, but it was not a pleasant process. His head felt like it was filled with the fluffy stuffing that was used in plush toys like what he had given the twins for their birthday, a pair or sehlats to be exact. His mouth and throat were as dry as deserts with a strange and disgusting taste there when he tried to swallow. In a rush the memory of how he got to wherever he was flooded his mind.

He had been kidnapped from the Enterprise.

It took all of Pavel's self-restraint to not panic at the implications. He wasn't on the Enterprise anymore and there was only one person who he could think of that would be able to do that. David Hamilton had found him and taken him away.

Forcing himself to stay calm, Pavel opened his eyes to see what sort of situation he was in this time. The room was small and made with plain grey metal. He was laying on the single sized bed which had no covers on it and only a simple, thin mattress that had obviously seen better days. There was one door, most likely locked, and no windows. This was starting to feel extremely similar to when he and the twins had been kidnapped by Dr. Edwards. Except there were two major differences between then and now.

One, the twins weren't with him meaning David either hadn't known where his room was or couldn't get past the security codes on either his or Spock's doors.

Two, he was completely naked. He considered himself lucky that Hamilton hadn't taken advantage of him in his sleep; he checked and couldn't find any signs of rape upon himself.

Sitting up, Pavel had to take several calming breaths before he could start thinking of ways to escape. For all he knew Hamilton would kill him. Plus he had been taken while Vitaliy was sick with only Lyusya to take care of him until Spock got back to the ship, and this was the first time Spock was dealing with the little boy being ill while Pavel had a year's worth of experience.

Finally getting a small measure of control over himself, the Russian went through his options and abilities. He would have to find a way to get a visitor off guard, preferably Hamilton since then he would be out of the way. Once he took out the visitor then he could get out of the room and find a communication device. He would find a weapon, disarm and tied up any other hostiles, and find something to cover himself before contacting the Enterprise. If he was lucky, Hamilton would have not gone very far from the flagship since taking the young blonde.

The door opened with a customary hiss bringing Pavel's attention to the now open doorway. There was Hamilton with a pleased smile on his face like he had just retrieved something that had been stolen from him. He was skinnier than when they had last met, and his eyes had this feverish glaze to them that told Pavel the old man wasn't all there in the head. The man walked into the room and Pavel shot up to his feet. He placed his back to the wall, but not in any of the corners so he could still get away if he needed to. Behind the detestable man was Mrs. Jackson. Her hair was unkempt and her face was ashen white while her eyes were so blood shot that they looked like pools of blood. To put it simply, the woman looked absolutely miserable.

"Ah, you're finally awake, Love. You had me worried there for a bit when you didn't wake up when I expected you to," Hamilton said with a concerned smile. "How are you? Are you feeling well? Nothing's wrong is there?"

"I am fine," Pavel managed to say without sounding hostile. He didn't want to provoke the man too much when it was obvious from the holster type belt he was wearing that he had a weapon on him.

"Good, good. I would be devastated if anything happened to you." Yes, Pavel could see him being absolutely heartbroken over something horrible happening to him outside of the man's control. "Now tell me, where are the twins? I'm sure they miss us both. We can't have the family being separated, now can we?"

Shit, he wanted the twins too? Over his dead body!

"I do not know," the young man replied stonily.

There was a pregnant pause before Hamilton's face suddenly turned dark. He reached out and slapped the blonde across the face. Pavel could have moved out of the way, but that would have only aggravated the man more. He was remembering the time he spent with this monster and the habits were coming back. Let himself be beat now since it would be worse if he avoided it, and protect the twins at all costs.

"Don't you dare lie to my, you little whore!" Hamilton snarled. "I know they're on that stupid ship. You'd never leave them on Earth, you're too protective for that." His face softened and he held his hands out beseechingly, "I know they're on that ship. Just tell me where they are and I can get them. We'll be a family again, just like before."

Yes, like when he was beating Pavel and controlling every aspect of his life.

Pavel glared at his ex-husband. "Zey are vith zeir father."

"I'm their father!" Hamilton roared.

"Zey are vith ze man zat helped conceive zem! A Wulcan! Do you really zink you vill stand a chance against a Wulcan?" Pavel yelled back causing the other to pause.

"You're right, I'll have to think of something else."

With that Hamilton left, brushing past Mrs. Jackson on his way out. Silence entered the room then as Pavel sized the woman up. She fidgeted under his gaze even though she never once looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, Pavel," She started. "I wish we didn't have to do this, but you're a family man so we know you'd understand." She finally made eye contact. "He has our kids, Pavel. He can make things happen to people who don't listen and we knew that. Dr. Edwards, she didn't even make it to jail. That's how fast he works. I'm not saying forgive us, I wouldn't even forgive myself. Just, just know we aren't doing this for money."

She left then, the door hissing shut followed by the clicking sound of the lock. Pavel stood there against the wall not knowing what to make of the new information. Sure he would have done the same thing as the Jacksons if it was true that Hamilton had taken their children, but he would have tried other things first. He would have to find out if all this was true or a ploy to make him put his trust in the wrong people.

He was going to sit down when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Quickly, he went to the spot where Mrs. Jackson had just been standing and picked up a small folded up piece of paper. Sitting back down on the bed he carefully unfolded the worn paper. Inside he found lines of code along with seemingly random words. At the bottom he saw the familiar cursive writing of Mr. Jackson.

"If you want to make a call."

Well, well, well; it seemed he really could the Jacksons after all.

* * *

During Vitaliy's nap Spock gave Lyusya one of the science work books Pavel had given her for her birthday. There was so much that Spock still didn't know about the twins, yet Pavel seemed to know every little thing. Lysuya liked learning and exploring the sciences. Vitaliy liked to learn as well, but he enjoyed the arts more, particularly drawing. Each had gotten similar things, but they had also gotten things that reflected their individual interests as well.

Letting out a barely audible sigh Spock started working on his inspection of the Enterprise's codes. Scotty was doing the same, but he wanted someone else to do it with him. Together the two of them hoped they would find out how someone got onboard, kidnapped Pavel, and got back off again with the young man. Scotty had made more progress with this than Spock had mainly because the Vulcan was caring for his children in the absence of their mother. Leonard came over often, but it still wasn't enough. The half Vulcan was finally experiencing what Pavel did everyday and he was appreciating the young man all the more for what he did for their children.

As he scanned the codes Spock tried hard to not let his mind wander to other things, but to no avail. Pavel managed to work almost full time and raise the twins on his own for a year yet he was struggling to do the same for a few hours. He would succeed though, and he would bring Pavel back to them. Once the blonde was back he was not leaving the young man's side again for a long time.

A line of code caught his attention and he reread the line again. That wasn't supposed to be there. Taking a closer look Spock whipped out his communicator and contacted Scotty.

"Mr. Scott, I have found the foreign codes."


	44. Chapter 43

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 43_

After a long period of time, Pavel inspected every inch of his prison looking for weak points. There were none. Obviously Hamilton had learned from Dr. Edwards' mistakes. There was nothing he could use to his advantage in this small, dingy room.

That just meant he was going to have to bide his time and execute his escape plan perfectly.

So while he waited he ripped the mattress open along the seam. It wasn't too large of a rip, but it was just big enough that he could fit the paper with the codes through the holeusing only two fingers and folding the paper two times. Pavel considered himself lucky that there were no cameras in the room or he would have been caught and stopped a long time ago.

Then came the waiting. Oh, he truly hated this part. In the silence there was nothing to do except come up with more plans and scenarios which he would never know if they would work until he tried to escape. There was nothing to distract him from his thoughts. It was like a slow torture of constantly circulating possibilities.

The door opened again and Pavel shot to his feet. He didn't want to seem vulnerable in anyway, even if it meant standing instead of sitting. It was Hamilton again, a tray of food in his hands and a frightening smile on his face.

"Hello, Love. I brought you some food. Can't have you collapsing from hunger now can we?" The man walked in and set the tray on the bed. He looked at Pavel with a curious gaze. "What's wrong? Aren't you hungry?"

Thinking quickly, Pavel implemented his least favorite plan. He sighed and looked up at the man before him through his eyelashes. "I am not hungry for food."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink into the deranged man's brain. When he finally understood the implied meaning he leered at the younger man, looking him up and down in an appreciative manner.

"I think I can help you with that hunger," he replied with a slightly deeper voice.

Before he could process what happened Pavel was in Hamilton's arms and being kissed in a way felt as if his soul was being sucked out. It was sloppy and disgusting; he honestly couldn't believe he had to do this. Before things could get too out of hand, the small blonde pulled up a memory of McCoy explaining something similar to the Vulcan nerve pinch. He needed a specific angle and a specific pressure point to make it work. This would be difficult due to being shorter than Hamilton, but he would manage. Pavel raised his hands and clasped his ex-husband's neck and deepened the nauseating kiss. He spread out his fingers and finally found what he hoped was the right spot. With Hamilton thoroughly distracted he angled his hand to just the right way before pushing into the point sharply with two fingers.

The reaction was immediate. Hamilton froze for a split second before his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed. The two of them would have fallen into a heap on the floor if Pavel hadn't pushed the dead weight onto the bed, making the tray of food tip over and spill its contents over the mattress. Moving the jacket to the side he found a phaser. Taking it and retrieving the codes out of the mattress, the Russian left the room that had been his prison. He shot at the control panel for the door once it closed. Now he had more time if the psycho woke up.

Sneaking down the hall Pavel found a room where there was a covered bed. He took one of the sheets and fashioned a crude toga out of it, ripping off the excess fabric so he could move more easily.

He set out again and when he stopped for a second time he was at the bridge. Both of the Jacksons were there, running the ship with so little skill that Pavel was surprised they were still in one piece. Stepping out of his cover he pointed the phaser at them; he was taking control now.

"Hands up vhere I can see zem and move to ze front window," he ordered.

The couple took one look at the phaser and complied with his wishes. They stood where he told them to, facing him. Quickly he started typing furiously on the console while keeping an eye on the couple and carefully putting in the codes.

He had just unlocked the communication system when the video screen opened on its own. Apparently the system was set to automatically answer any incoming transmissions. He forgot all about that when he saw Spock and the rest of the bridge crew.

"Pavel! Are you alright? What's the situation over there?" Jim demanded before Spock could ask the very same things.

"I have trapped Hamilton and have ze Jacksons under control. I vould wery much like to return to ze Enterprise now," Pavel reported.

"Scotty's already on it," Jim said with a nod. Most likely the Jacksons and Hamilton would be sent straight to the brig upon arriving on the Enterprise. He supposed that he should come to the Jacksons' defense now, but all he cared about was getting back to his family.

"How did you find the ship's frequency?" he asked.

"Mr. Scott and I were reviewing the Enterprise's coding and discovered an unauthorized addition. We then traced the origins back to the ship you are currently on," Spock summarized. Though his tone was cold his eyes seemed to burrow into his, demanding to know if the younger man was alright.

"I guess you can cross off forcefully taking over a ship from your bucket list." Jim grinned at him.

"I can also cross off vearing a toga made from a bedsheet," Pavel laughed. The Enterprise crew seemed to relax at that, laughing as most of them just now noticed his new fashion statement. Spock gave him a heated look charged with lust and it took a second for Pavel to understand why. Somehow Spock deduced that he was completely naked underneath the makeshift clothing.

The Vulcan actually found him attractive.

Pavel felt a blush come to his face as their eyes locked. He had a feeling that something shifted within the dynamic of their relationship.


	45. Chapter 44

**Author's Note: ** Again, I apologize for not getting this out on Sunday like promised. I'm just now getting better after coming down with something last week.

So here is your chapter, I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 44_

It wasn't long after the conversation ended that a small shuttle filled with a team of security officers boarded the ship. About half the team went for Hamilton, they were going to be on the second trip. The other half of the team herded Pavel and the Jacksons onto the shuttle. One ensign handed Pavel a bundle of clothing before boarding which he quickly changed into. The clothes were actually his favorite pair of sweatpants and a blue baggy T-shirt, complete with a pair of undergarments. A light dusting of pink graced the young man's cheeks at the thought of Spock knowing he would want these specific clothes.

On the way back to the Enterprise the security team started questioning the three extras onboard, but Pavel refused to answer anything until Leonard had checked him over and both Jim and Spock were present in the room. The Jacksons followed his lead; a smart decision since getting their story heard by the higher ranking officers would increase their chances of a less severe punishment and their story not being altered by the time it reached said officers.

Impatiently, Pavel waited to be allowed off the shuttle while it temporarily docked back on the Enterprise. There was an urgency to see his children and another need to see Spock. He needed to see if all of them were healthy, especially his little prince. For all he knew the little boy was still on strict bed rest due to his illness.

The security team escorted the Jacksons off the shuttle, shuffling them towards the direction of the brig as another team prepared to take the shuttle back to get the others and Hamilton. Following on the heels of the disembarking group, Pavel looked around the shuttle bay and immediately noticed the three men standing off to the side by the wall. Not waiting a moment longer, Pavel ran towards them. When he was within a foot of the group he launched himself into the Vulcan's awaiting arms. Said arms wrapped around his smaller frame and held him close. Spock buried is nose into the blonde locks and inhaled deeply. There was the distinct beeping of Leonard's tricorder scanning him, but he didn't look up from the sturdy chest his face was pressed into.

"Glad to have you back onboard, Pavel," Jim said softly. His hand almost touched the young man's shoulder, but the sharp glare he received from the First Officer had his hand drawing back as if to avoid getting stabbed. Right, no touching the mate of an antsy Vulcan.

"Clean bill of health," Leonard sighed in relief. "I still want you to stop by medbay at least a couple times a day for the next few days just to make sure there are no delayed reactions to anything."

Spock nuzzled the blonde locks he had been smelling. He had his mate back safe and sound in his arms. Relief flooded his entire being, both his own and what he could feel coming from the bond they shared. Taking one last deep breath, the half-Vulcan pulled back just enough to touch their foreheads together.

"The children are in your room. Lyusya is monitoring Vitaliy's fever and will alert Leonard or myself if it rises again. She has a communicator that Mr. Scott programmed for her," he said in a soft voice. "Come, we will go to them."

All Pavel could do was nod. It seemed like time was on fast forward as suddenly the couple found themselves in front of Pavel's bedroom door. On autopilot, the young blonde typed in the password and the door opened. Barely a step into the room and something slammed into his legs so hard that Spock had to hold him up so he wouldn't topple over back into the hallway.

"Mama!" Lyusya wailed; her tiny arms wrapped around his legs as best she could.

The dam of choked emotions that Pavel hadn't known was building broke as he knelt and held onto his baby girl with tears running down his face.

"I missed you, Mama," she whimpered into his ear.

"I missed you too, Princess." With a sniffle, he stood with her in his arms. Together the three of them walked to the bed where the little girl's brother lay. Tired brown eyes blinked up at them a few times before a small smile pulled at equally small, pouty lips. Pavel shifted Lyusya to one side and knelt down next to the bed. With his free hand he combed his fingers through the sweaty dark brown hair.

"Mama," Vitaliy whispered and reached out a hand. It grasped weakly onto the soft cotton shirt Pavel was wearing, seeking comfort and reassurance.

"Hello, Prince. Mama's back," he whispered back. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Good, zat is wery good."

It took several hours for the twins to calm own enough to sleep. In that time Spock had reluctantly left the room at the request of the captain. He needed to oversee Hamilton being placed in the brig and the Jacksons wanted to talk to both high ranking officers. So needless to say the man was extremely displeased at having to leave the rest of his small family alone, even if it was temporarily. When he returned, he hadn't been expecting to see Pavel still awake. There he sat next to the bed in the chair that had been there since Vitaliy had gotten sick, watching the sleeping twins. Apparently the little boy wasn't contagious anymore so she sister could sleep cuddled next to him.

Quietly, Spock walked to the blonde and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Pavel looked up at him with tired eyes and smiled ever so slightly.

"You are still awake," he observed.

"If I am awake zen ze dreams cannot bother me," the younger of the two confessed.

For a moment Spock paused to think about his options. "I could relieve you of these dreams. Though it would require me to enter your mind."

"Zank you for ze offer, but I vill not take it." Pavel smiled up at him again. "I vant to deal vith zis. To show ze twins zat no matter vhat zey can overcome anything zat happens to zem."

"Then what can I do to help you?"

Pavel stood and crawled over the twins so he could cuddle them when he finally slept. "You can hold all of us all night long."

Nodding, Spock settled into the bed. He draped an arm over the twins and let it rest on his mate's waist. He didn't need as much sleep as a human did, or even his own children, but the stress from Pavel being kidnapped was catching up with him. The adults shared half-asleep smiles before their eyes closed and they drifted into the land of slumber.


	46. Chapter 45

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 45_

Looking up at the looming shadow that came to rest over his desk, Leonard raised an eyebrow in a decent impression of the man standing before him.

"Yes?" he drawled out in an unimpressed manner.

"Has Pavel been cleared of any illnesses he may have acquired from his ordeal?" Spock asked in his usual neutral tone, though the doctor knew enough to recognize the concern hidden deep in there.

"Yeah he is. Why?"

"I planned on inquiring if he would be agreeable to visiting New Vulcan as that is our next destination."

With a slightly amused huff the doctor returned his attention to the datapads filled with paperwork that he needed to fill out. "You'll have to ask him then. But Vitaliy won't be going if he's still sick by then," he ordered and waved the Vulcan off.

"Affirmative, Doctor."

Spock left the Southern man's office and medbay entirely. Slowly and quietly he walked through the halls back to his and Pavel's rooms. They still technically had two different rooms, but they left the doors to the shared bathroom open now. It was something of a new development in their relationship. Pavel had a hard time dealing with his nightmares and didn't want to wake the children so Spock had offered his bed. As a Vulcan he required less sleep than a human would so by the time Pavel awoke from a nightmare he was fully rested after his meditation.

The nightmares frustrated Spock to no end as well. Everything inside of him said that he should help his mate and make the dreams stop, but Pavel had refused his help at every turn when it came to the kidnapping. He just didn't understand how forcing oneself to relive the horror of a trauma would help one overcome it. It had to be a human notion because both Jim and Leonard fully supported the idea. Well, whether he liked the idea or not he would stand by the young blonde's decision.

Entering the rooms through his door, Spock looked around the warm living space. The temperature was set much higher in here than it was in any other quarters. It was a comfort level thing, seeing as he was used to the warmer climate of Vulcan and not colder climates. He had noticed that Pavel kept his rooms rather warm as well, most likely for the twins' comfort as they shared a dislike to cool and mild weather. Room temperatures aside, Pavel was sleepily blinking at him from the bed. He raised both of his hands and rubbed at his eyes, obviously he had been getting some sleep before Spock entered the room.

"Spock?" he asked quietly. "Vhat is it? You normally vorked later zan zis."

"I requested early dismissal so that I may speak with you."

"All right. Vhat do you vant to talk about?"

Spock walked over to the bed and sat down, looking into Pavel's eyes with a serious gaze. "I have received word that our next mission is going to be on New Vulcan and diplomatic in nature. I wish to know if you would be agreeable to showing the children the other part of their heritage while we are there. Providing the children and you are in good health at the time."

For a moment Spock feared his mate would deny the request. It would be devastating if he could not share a part of what he had grown up with together with the twins, but he would accept the decision if Pavel said so. The last time he hadn't listened to the blonde he immediately regretted the consequences it brought.

"Vill you be zere as vell?" Pavel finally spoke. "I do not vant to vander vithout protection in case someone does not approve of ze twins or me."

"I never expected you to do so. I will be there to protect you." Spock brushed some blonde hair out of the younger man's face, his fingers just a hair's breathe away from touching the pale forehead.

"How is the search for the Jackson children going?" Pavel suddenly asked.

Reluctantly, the older man pulled his hand away. He hadn't been willing to forgive the Jacksons' for all they had done, but he grudgingly accepted the fact that he would have done something similar if not more volatile than what they had if someone had taken his children. Oh, wait; he had. He still sympathized with them though. So they worked a deal; the Jacksons get punished for being accessories to the crimes committed if the Enterprise helped them get their children back to safety.

"The children have been found. They were taken into protective custody as of the beginning on Beta shift."

"Good," the blonde sighed in relief. "I vas starting to get vorried zat ve vould not make it in time."

"Indeed. The Jacksons were pleased to hear the news as well."

They stayed in companionable silence for a moment. Pavel was clearly too tired to come up with any more topics to discuss. Spock himself just wanted to bask in the feeling of being near to him once more. It was hard to let him out of sight while he went to the bridge or science labs and the smaller male stayed in the rooms to nurse Vitaliy back to health and watch over Lyusya.

"Spock, I should varn you about something," Pavel spoke, breaking the silence.

"What is it, Pavel." He looked at the blonde and tilted a curious eyebrow ever so slightly.

"Normally after Vitaliy has a bad cold like zis, Lyusya tends to catch it too."

It took a few seconds for the information to sink in. "You mean to say that Lyusya will become ill as well?"

"Yes."

"How can you be so sure of this?" He wasn't panicked at all. He just didn't want to find out how badly his daughter could get ill with the same thing that had made his son bedridden. That was perfectly logical.

"It has happened before so it vill most likely happen again." Pavel paused and peered closely that the half-Vulcan. "Are you alright, Spock? You look pale."

Oh yes, he was perfectly alright with the fact that his other child would be bedridden soon. This was not what he wanted floating around in his head for the rest of the day. He would have to spend hours of meditating to reduce the level of anxiety he was feeling.

Vaguely, Spock wondered if his father ever had this problem when providing for his family.


	47. Chapter 46

**Author's Note: ** I want to apologize for not posting this when I said I would. I have started school again and I needed most of the weekend to work on homework. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 46_

Just as Pavel had predicted, Lyusya started to show signs of being sick the very next day. Of course, Spock had left early for his shift like always so he was blissfully unaware of said illness. That is, until Jim called the good doctor.

"Bridge to Dr. McCoy."

"What do you want Jim?" the older man sounded extremely annoyed.

"I was just wondering where you were. Normally you've come up to the bridge to badger someone down to medbay by now," Jim replied with a mild smile on his face.

"Are you saying you miss me? Do I need to schedule more appointments for you?" There was definite teasing there.

"Well I don't know about going to medbay. Maybe we could hang out like we used to. I never get to see you anymore." That was the blonde's impression of a clingy girlfriend.

"I'll be sure to pencil you into my busy schedule more often," Leonard deadpanned.

"You sound grumpy, am I interrupting something?"

"Not really, though you are amusing the Russian Prince and Princess."

"You're watching the twins?"

"He is giving zem a check up," Pavel's voice came through clearly, causing Spock to straighten and pay better attention. "He also gave me his com."

"How are they doing? I miss having them up here." The Captain smiled gently at the obviously good memories.

"Vitaliy is no longer sick, but Lyusya seems to have caught ze cold."

It took all of Spock's self control to not leave his station and rush back to the quarters without permission before his shift ended. Blue eyes glanced at the science officer with a knowing look.

"Do you need Spock there?"

"You let that hobgoblin come down here and I'll never get this check up done!" Leonard's voice filtered through loud and clear due to his raised voice.

"I do not see vhy he needs to leave early. He vill see us vhen he is off duty," Pavel answered. Spock could just imagine his head tilting to the side as a physical representation of his confusion.

"Alright then, I guess I'll leave you guys alone then." Then Jim disconnected the line. He turned his attention to the very stiffly standing Vulcan and smirked. "You heard them; you're stuck with us until its quitting time."

It pained him to give a verbal affirmative and return to work. He wanted so badly to refuse the subtle order and return to his quarters, but he didn't want to gain marks on his record or worse, gain Pavel's ire.

* * *

Pavel couldn't help it. He just had to chuckle at the man he was bonded to. He had come back to the room in what was clearly the equivalent of a Vulcan panic attack. Immediately he had gone to the twins and started to pamper them as much as he could.

It started with simply hugging Vitaliy to make up the lack of contact he had received while being sick. Then He fussed over Lyusya, feeding her plain, yet still nutritious, broth and changing the cold cloth on her forehead like clockwork. What made it even funnier was that Vitaliy was riding on his back, arms wrapped securely around his neck and legs squeezing as tightly as they could to stay up even though his father periodically shifted him higher. It was cute to see the grown man walking around the room with a little long haired child peeking over his shoulder to take in everything from the new angle. Pavel had done the same thing with both of them before, but Spock was taller so it added a new element to act.

"You do know zat if you keep going like zis zey vill expect zis kind of treatment all the time," Pavel pointed out. "Zey vill zink zat zey can get anything from you."

"That is an illogical statement. There is no proof of such events being directly related," Spock replied imperiously. If he hadn't been sitting with a book next to Lyusya's bed and Vitaliy in his lap then he might have actually been convincing.

"Vhatever you say, Spock. Vhatever you say." The younger man absently waved the group off.

The best thing about this was that he could catch up on some of the work that Brilliant Repairs had sent him. Apparently there was an increase in customers bringing in personal machines with large amounts of corrupted codes and viruses.

"You could join us," Vitaliy said in his quiet voice.

Turning his attention back to his family, Paval smiled sweetly at them. "Mama has vork to do. Besides, I did ze same zing vith you both already; let your Papa have a turn."

Seriously, the picture was just too cute. Sneakily, the blonde captured a picture on his PADD. That one was going into a scrapbook, photo album, and just about anywhere else Pavel could get away with putting it.

Oh, and he was sending the picture to Leonard and Jim.

The response from Leonard was almost immediate. The doctor was immensely amused, going so far as to say they need to frame the picture somewhere in the apartment back on Earth. Jim was slower to respond, but he thought it was cute. Probably something he would try to tease the Vulcan about later.

Satisfied with the responses he went back to the corrupted codes, the soft voice of Spock reading aloud providing background noise. The story was a new one, so the twins would pay extra special attention to it. It was their habit after all and if there was one thing that Pavel had learned, it was that those two were as strict about routine as both of their parents were. It was still cute of them. They would be great scholars when they were older. Vitaliy would probably do something with art and Lyusya would do something science related, though he hoped neither of them went into Starfleet. That would be terrifying and after everything he had been through he wasn't confident in their abilities to keep people safe.


	48. Chapter 47

**Author's Note: ** I want to apologize for not posting this when I said I would. School has made it so I needed most of the weekend to work on homework. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 47_

Uhura stood stiffly in front of both her captain and his first officer. Both high ranking men were staring at her with such looks of disappointment that she could feel her face starting to glow red with embarrassment.

"So let me get this straight. You opened an email, an email that you had no idea who the sender was, and you decided to not tell us about it because you didn't think it would do any harm since it got through the security system." She refused to respond to him in any way, but apparently her silence was answer enough for him since he sighed and dragged a hand over his face. "I'm honestly surprised that you fell for that. That's one of the simplest and oldest tricks in the book for hackers and lowlifes."

For a moment she felt the urge to try and defend herself, but resisted. The virus that changed some coding in the ship's system had been traced back to that stupid email she had gotten. There was no way of denying that she was the reason Chekov had been kidnapped; even though she hadn't intended for that to happen. Then again, she hadn't been too upset when the young blonde man had been missing. Still, she didn't like the looks her superiors were giving her, especially the one coming from Spock.

"Alright, what we're going to do is have you take a course on recognizing potential digital threats and how to handle them. You will learn how to do these things. If you don't learn it here then you'll be sent back to Starfleet Academy to learn it," Kirk ordered.

A little spark of hope filled the woman at her punishment. She would either be taught by Scotty, who wasn't that bad of a guy even with his sandwich obsession, or Spock. If she was lucky enough to get Spock then she could use the classes as a means to convince Spock he should be with her again.

"And it just so happens we have someone on the ship that is an expert on this subject matter." Kirk continued on, not noticing the sparks in her eyes positively glittering now, "You will be reporting to this conference room everyday for two hours, for the beginning part of your shifts. Now, Spock and I will leave you and your tutor alone to get started.

The dream that had been working its way into her mind shattered when Spock left the room and performed a Vulcan kiss with Chekov as the younger man came in. The shorter blonde looked up at the Vulcan and smiled gently, returning the gesture with a confidence that had the Communications Officer wanting to tear them apart. The door closed, leaving just her and the Russian together. The blonde sighed before squaring his shoulders and leveling a stern look on her.

"I know you do not like me, but ve cannot have a Communications Officer making mistakes like zis. I vill be teaching you all zat I know on detecting and resisting hacking and infiltration techniques. As Keptin Kirk has stated, if you do not pass ze test at ze end of ze course, you vill go back to ze Academy," he said.

"I'd rather work with someone else," she growled.

"Vell too bad. You do not always get your way in life and zings vill never be easy." He turned and started bringing images and other things up on the monitor on the wall straight from his PADD.

"Excuse me?" Uhura snarled in response. How dare he give her attitude!

Without looking at her Chekov responded with, "I used to respect you, but ze vay you have acted towards me over ze years has changed zat. I vill not let you ruin ze good zings happening in my life now just because zey are not vhat you vant." He turned to face her with a calm demeanor and a bored look in his eyes. "Now sit, ve have a lot to cover for you to pass my test."

* * *

"I still do not think it is wise to have Pavel be her teacher," Spock responded argumentatively.

Jim sighed in frustration, "Look, we've been over this. She wouldn't learn a thing with you because she'd try to steal you from Pavel the entire time. Scotty is just too busy with fixing and improving things to leave his work to do it. Besides, Pavel did this sort of thing all the time if what Bones is telling me about his previous job is right."

"Just because Pavel is the logical choice does not mean that I will agree with it."

"Alright," Jim threw his hands up in the air, much to the amusement of the rest of the bridge crew who had been listening to them for the last hour. "We'll just bring up the security feed and you can see that Pavel can handle this!"

"That would be acceptable."

Groaning at having to deal with a difficult Vulcan, Jim waved his hand at Sulu to bring said camera feed up on the main screen. What they saw was a very frustrated Uhura who looked ready to throttle Pavel and the blonde man looking equally frustrated. She was sitting in one of the chairs while Pavel stood next to the monitor he was using with his PADD in hand.

"Zis is not zat complicated, Uhura. You are overcomplicating the entire concept," Pavel sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No I'm not, you're just a lousy teacher," the woman snapped back.

Obviously they had been going at this for a while as Pavel seemed to explode with previously contained anger.

"It is you vho is making zis difficult! I hawe trained at least a dozen people zis exact same vay and zey newer had zis much of a problem! I gawe you examples, notes, explanations, and ewen vorked viz you on zree problems exactly like zis! You are being obstinate due to personal reasons and all it vill do is hurt you in ze end!" Suddenly the monitor was devoid of helpful information and the blonde was storming for the door. "Do not talk to me or come near me until you hawe finished all four exercises! No one is allowed to help you eizer!" Then he was out the door leaving a shocked Uhura sitting at the table, her PADD blinking at her as a reminder that she still hadn't finished her work.

The video feed turned off and the bridge stayed silent for all of ten seconds before Jim spoke up.

"Well, I think we've all learned something today. Don't pretend to be dumb when Pavel is trying to teach you something."

There were chuckles all around as the crew went back to work. Spock himself could feel the frustration radiating over the still weak bond he shared with his mate, but he was immensely proud of the smaller male. His actions and words, though caused by frustration, proved that he was competent in teaching and dealing with difficult students. Though he would probably never be a professor at the Academy if he pulled a stunt like that every time a student decided to play dumb.

* * *

"Mama!" the twins greeted Pavel as he entered Medbay. There was a shocking lack of patients so the identically dressed children were playing with the nurses while Leonard worked on paperwork in his office with the door open.

"Hello my darlings," Pavel cooed as they raced towards him in their matching blue jeans, purple shirts, and black sneakers. He scooped them up in one fluid motion that had the nurses giggling and sighing. Apparently a man doting on his children was a highly appealing thing for these women, and even some men.

"They're really getting the hang of walking and running. You'll be chasing after them in the halls soon I bet," Christine laughed.

"Zey vould not do zat," Pavel responded just as the twins rebutted with, "Ve vould not do zat!"

Leonard came out of his office and leaned against the doorframe, chuckling along with the laughter. It was honestly adorable how the long haired three-year olds copied Pavel's accent.

"No offense, but why are you here? I thought you were going to do that thing Jim had asked you about." Of course Leonard knew what the blonde had been doing for the last hour. Jim had asked the young man about tutoring Uhura before actually confronting her. Needless to say he was curious as to why the parent was back an hour earlier than expected.

"It did not go wery vell. I have said my vord and only time vill tell if zey are heeded," Pavel sighed as he put the squirming quarter-Vulcans down so they could race back to their respective games.

"Don't worry too much about it too much. You did the best you could and the rest is out of your hands now." Leonard smirked at him. "On a different note, you want to help me with something? My PADD locked up on me while it was sending a report and I can't get it to work again."

Laughing Pavel followed the doctor into his office, "At zis rate I vill never lose my skills from Brilliant Repairs. I'm sure Daniel vill be happy vith zat."


	49. Chapter 48

**Author's Note: ** Apologies for not posting this when I said I would. School is continuing to make my life difficult. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 48_

It was about a week since Uhura received her punishment and Pavel had given her a piece of his mind. Since then, the woman had made it a point to stay as far away from Pavel as possible and, obviously, she refused to show her work to her assigned tutor. As punishment, Jim forbade her from going down to New Vulcan for either the diplomatic mission or the personal time Starfleet was allowing the Enterprise crew for the first time in a long time. At least until she got her act together and did the work Pavel had assigned her.

On a side note, Spock had asked Pavel about going down to the surface of the planet. Of course he had given his request filled with facts and contingencies, but the Vulcan still basically asked the young man on a date. Since the twins were both finally healthy and quite frankly the Russian was starting to get cabin fever from seeing the same boring metal walls all the time. So the blonde readily jumped at the chance to get away from the claustrophobic feelings of the flagship.

Now the young man was double checking that everything was ready for the family trip down to the Vulcan ruled planet. From what he remembered of his last visit, it was almost unbearably hot for a human so he planned on dressing lightly, but still in long clothing to avoid sunburns. Conveniently the outfit he wore (a light-weight, white shirt and light blue pants made from a flowing material) was the exact same as the outfits he dressed the twins in. Right down to the light shoes, the outfits were the same just in different sizes. He wasn't sure how the twins would react to the new environment, but seeing as they were bundled up in moderately warm clothing everywhere else he figured that they would fare better on New Vulcan than he would. That was just a genetic trait that Pavel had come to accept.

Spock came into the room as Pavel checked the bag he had packed with snacks and drinks. They may be part Vulcan, but the little ones were still mostly human meaning they could get dehydrated.

"I zink I have everything," Pavel murmured to himself as Vitaliy tugged on his pant leg while Lyusya walked to her father and held out her arms. Picking the little girl up the half-Vulcan walked up to Pavel and gave him a human kiss to the top of his head.

"Do not fret; should you require anything that may be forgotten I will procure it for you," he replied and nuzzled the blonde curls.

Relaxing at the soothing actions, the Russian smiled before putting the bag on his shoulders and lifting Vitaliy into his arms. Together they went to the transporters in a comfortable silence and studiously ignoring the giggling of female crewmembers they passed. For some reason they still couldn't get over the apparent novelty of the small family.

Surprisingly enough Jim and Spock had finished the diplomatic mission with little to no problems. For once Jim wasn't the cause of the problems during a mission. News of Spock and Pavel's unbroken bond and the twins' existence had made it to the planet and several of the diplomats seemed to take exception to the fact that Spock was present for the meetings. Thankfully Jim put a stop to it with some not so subtle threats that Starfleet wouldn't stand for the Vulcan Counsel discriminating against one of their employees, especially a First Officer.

Their transportation to the planet surface was quick and easy. Pavel was immensely grateful that he had ordered the twins to wear sunglasses like he had. The sun was unbearably bright and Pavel suddenly realized he would need a hat if he wanted to be in the sun for long periods of time. This type of weather was not friendly to his lightly colored skin; even with the slight tan he had from living on Earth. Spock, immediately coming to the same conclusion, quickly led the way to a vender who sold them hats that looked very reminiscent of the floppy, wide brimmed hats coming into fashion on Earth. The hats fascinated the twins for all of two seconds before their attention was drawn to their surroundings again. Lyusya watched people as they passed while Vitaliy looked at the buildings and merchandise in stalls.

After walking around for a few hours the couple decided to take a break in one of the common squares. One set blanket later, the twins were contently working in their workbooks with snacks at their sides while their parents sat just behind them working on their personal PADDs. The family ignored the curious and sometimes disgusted looks they received from passing Vulcans. Though there were a few Non-Vulcans who wandered around, including an Orion woman who came over to gush at how cute the entire family was. Pavel, not knowing what she had been saying the entire time she spoke, blushed a deep red when Spock had given him a condensed version of the conversation the two had.

After their break the couple decided it was a good time to take their children to see some sehlats that had been rescued from Vulcan before it was destroyed. There weren't that many, a few dozen maybe, but Spock said they gave birth in large numbers so the population would rise once again. There were even a few unclaimed cubs at the shelter, apparently they had refused to leave with any one that tried to buy them. Spock paid the shelter owner a decent amount to let the twins go and pet the large baby animal.

Pavel stood vigil like the mother sehlat, a comparison that two Vulcans doing business chose not to comment on. Lyusya stood still and stared at them, slightly twitchy hands begging to pet one though still unsure if she could. Vitaliy was the braver one for once as he crept closer to the animals before sitting on the ground cross-legged. He held out a hand to the smallest cub and waited patiently, just like he had seen his mother do when greeting a dog back on Earth. The little cub was partially hidden by its mother's legs crawled over slowly, pausing every few seconds before continuing. Vitaliy tilted his head to the side, eye wide with curious wonder as he watched the creature approach. Then the animal was mere centimeters from the little hand. The two stared at each other, gauging reactions, before the sehlat sniffed the small appendage.

Then licked it.

Vitaliy giggled as the little beast started nuzzling his chest, putting enough force behind it to knock them both over. Lyusya pouted the slightest bit over her brother's joy. Well, she did before she was pushed from behind. Her hair whipped around as she turned to look at the cause. Sitting patiently behind her was a larger sehlat, obviously an older cub that wasn't a part of little sehlat's family if the warning growl from the mother was a hint. Pavel felt his breath catch as the beast stood and circled his princess. That thing was at least twice her size while the one playing with his prince was just barely shorter than the children. Spock was at his side in an instant, holding onto him and whispering something about not disturbing the two. How could he say that? Their daughter could be eaten by that thing!

The beast sat once again, this time in front of the little girl who was doing her best to not run to her mother. She had read somewhere that running was a bad thing when it came to big animals. Something about triggering a hunting mindset. Then a large tongue licked her entire face, knocking her hat to the ground and making her loose bang stick out at odd angles. She blinked in dumbfounded shock. The large cub purred as it started to rub itself over her, walking tight circles to achieve the task. It was only when her brother started laughing at her that she realized how she must have looked. Throwing a glare at her twin with a sehlat in his lap, Lyusya rubbed the saliva off her face before petting the large beast.

"You do know what this means, correct?" the shelter owner asked as Pavel sagged in relief.

"I will discuss it with my captain," Spock replied. The other Vulcan nodded and left them. Now that he was sure Lyusya wouldn't be eaten, Pavel turned a questioning gaze towards Spock.

"When a sehlat approaches an individual and does as the two have towards our children, it means that they have chosen said individuals as theirs. It is customary that if this happens then the sehlat is purchased by their chosen. I must call the Captain and ask permission to bring the animals onboard the Enterprise," Spock explained. "I will be a moment." He pressed a soft Vulcan kiss to the back of the younger man's hand then walked a few paces away before pulling out his communicator.

With a small smile Pavel turned his attention back to the twins and the sehlats. Vitaliy was laying on his back with the small cub laying on the little boy's stomach purring contently. Lyusya was trying to pet the larger cub, but the task was proving to be difficult as the beast kept nuzzling her and pushing her off balance. The young blonde couldn't help but chuckle at how cute they all looked. If he were to be honest he was nervous about bringing even one of the beasts onto the Enterprise, especially since judging by the adult sehlat these creatures could get extremely large.

Well, they would just have to cope with the consequences.

Suddenly the sun didn't feel as hot on his back, which was strange considering there were no clouds in the sky. Curious, he turned his head just enough to see that there was a person standing behind him. A Vulcan that was not Spock. Adjusting his position so that he could properly see the tall being, Pavel took in the sight of the male with unease. He was familiar, but the young man just couldn't put his finger on where he had seen that Vulcan-styled sneer before.

"I am surprised to find one such as you here," the unknown Vulcan sneered.

"And just vhat am I?" the parent responded defensively.

"Be careful how you answer, Stron." Seeing Spock behind the other Vulcan was a relief, but there was a tension in the air that made him incredibly uneasy.

Something was going to happen and Pavel bet it would happen because Stron would anger Spock.


	50. Chapter 49

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 49_

Pavel nervously glanced between the two Vulcans, absently noticing that the shelter owner was standing just outside his office. The tension was so thick that a butter knife could cut it! The only saving grace at the moment was that the twins were distracted, and conveniently protected, by the sehlats.

If anyone wanted to experience firsthand what it was like to stand on the sidelines of a Vulcan-styled Mexican standoff, well Pavel could honestly say to them that it was terrifying. He bet Jim would love being in the younger man's place right now. Both Vulcans stood stiffly, hands down by their sides with clenched jaws and ever so slightly narrowed eyes. The only difference between them was how their moths were set. Spock was frowning heavily, for a Vulcan, and the one named Stron had a slight lift in one corner of his lips.

Oh, he wanted this to stay peaceful, but apparently he wasn't going to get that. A beep from his PADD drew his attention away from the starring contest in front of him. An email from Jim. Huh, they had permission to buy the sehlats and bring them on board the Enterprise. That happened a little too fast seeing as Spock had called in not even five minutes ago. How many strings did the father of his children pull to get approval that fast?

Turning away from his PADD, he blinked as the distinct of sound of the Vulcan language drifting through the air. Stron was the one speaking and Spock was practically vibrating with some strong emotion that looked close to rage. Though he had no idea what was being said it was clear from the tone that it wasn't very nice. Then Spock suddenly lashed out; well the Vulcan version of lashing out. Whatever was said must have really angered him to cause him to strike out physically. Luckily the Science Officer had enough control to stop at a single well placed punch to the chest which propelled the other backwards.

Viciously the Starfleet officer spat something back at Stron. He handed Pavel his PADD and pointed to the shelter owner who was fast approaching. Even though he didn't want to leave Spock on his own the blonde decided it would be better to intercept the third Vulcan. Uneasily, he turned from the pair and approached the other Vulcan. A quick glance at the PADD showed an invoice payment to the shelter for the beasts that were thankfully still passively protecting the twins.

"I apologize for zis happening," Pavel said once he reached the business owner.

"Apologies are illogical. If they escalate further then they will have to leave the premises," the other informed him.

"Understood. I have no vish to see it escalate either." The small male shook his head in dismay hoping that Spock would control himself. "Anyway, I vanted to ask if you had received notice of ze payment for ze sehlats."

"I have. I took the liberty of putting together a list of items you will need to properly care for the sehlats." Opening the document that was sent to Spock's PADD, Pavel felt his heart stop at the shear amount of items on the list. This would cost a fortune! Even with the money he used to make from either of his previous occupations, he would never be able to pay for all of this on his own. Spock on the other hand was a higher rank then what Pavel used to be, so the older man's salary was a good deal larger than the blonde's. If the young father knew anything about the other man it was that he would try to pay for all of the items himself even if it would drain a good portion of his accounts. Why was it that the larger the animal was the more expensive they were to keep?

"Zank you." His voice sounded slightly strained because he could feel his bank account crying. "I vill try to prevent Spock from causing a greater scene."

The Vulcan nodded, but kept his ground. Probably to jump in if the situation escalated any further. Summoning some courage Pavel returned to the two who were snarling Vulcan at each other. By now the twins had realized something was going on and were pay close attention to the action. The large sehlat stood poised to attack while the smaller cub tried and failed to appear threatening like the other one. Frustration and annoyance flared inside Pavel. Really, this was getting ridiculous.

"Alright, zat is enough!" Pavel snapped at them, easily gaining their attention. "Spock, everything is in order and ve are leaving. Zink about vhat you are teaching ze twins." Having the decency to feel ashamed at his actions, Spock left the other Vulcan and retrieved the twins. The sehlats eagerly followed him, their eyes glued to the twins settled in their father's arms.

Pavel turned his attention back to Stron who seemed very smug for some reason. Well that wouldn't do. This man had caused a reaction in Spock and quite frankly that royally ticked the human off.

"You zink you are so logical, do you?" Pavel glared at him. "Tell me, how logical is it to be prejudice towards a species zat you deem beneath you? How logical is it zat you vould go out of your way to insult me and my family? Is it logical to provoke Spock into attacking you?" Now the Vulcan looked shocked as the words hit him. "I do not see a logical being in front of me. I see a pathetic being who is jealous zat Spock has a rewarding career outside of Wulcan zat increases awareness of ze culture he grew up vith and you are jealous zat he has a family. You are not logical Stron and until you can hold your tongue and deal vith your jealousy, you never vill be. Until ve meet again." With that Pavel stormed out of the shelter leaving behind two very confused Vulcans. Though, one was more shocked and the other seemed to be impressed. The shelter owner then politely asked Stron to leave, all the while thinking that there was more to the little human than he originally thought.

"Is everything alright, Pavel?" Spock asked when he rejoined them. The sehlats sat patiently on either side of him and the twins blinked at their mother curiously.

"Yes, zere is nothing wrong." Pavel smiled and he took Vitaliy in his arms. "Let us get ze zings for ze sehlats."

As they started walking away with the large baby animals trotting behind them Pavel couldn't help feeling a sense of fondness towards the other man who was listening intently to his daughter's ramblings. He had defended not just Pavel, but the twins too. Right now it looked like everything would work out for their little family, especially if Spock was willing to defend them so readily.


	51. Chapter 50

**Author's Note:** Alright right, I'll admit, I'm getting bad at posting on time. As a result of this trend and how busy I have recently become, updates to this story will be every other week instead of every week. This will not mean that the chapters will suddenly become longer, most likely they will stay the same average length.

Thank you for your continued support. Please enjoy this new chapter.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 50_

After a few short trips between the Enterprise and the planet to deal with the things for the sehlats, to which Scotty kept teasing them for, the small family was back on the planet surface. There was a small square they were going to relax in before going back to the Enterprise for the night. Spock bought some sandwiches and other hand foods for them all and Pavel set their picnic blanket back up with the twins help. They relaxed in the cool shadow of a building, the twins taking to opportunity to nap after finishing their food. Lyusya had curled herself into a ball wedged between her parents, her bangs falling into her face. Vitaliy fell asleep with his head in Pavel's lap and his arms firmly wrapped around his little sehlat. Lyusya's new pet was curled on the other side of Spock enjoying the absentminded petting the man was giving him. Spock was busy reading something on his PADD, most likely something to do with the science labs. Pavel was working on more corrupt code sent from Daniel. It seemed like there was an epidemic of bad coding going around. It almost made the blonde wish he was back on Earth so he could have better access to the problem.

Feeling the heavy and familiar sensation of eyes on him Spock looked up from the experiment report he was reading. At the edge of the blanket stood his father with a very displeased air about him

"You heard of the incident at the shelter," Spock stated. There was really no other way to explain the elder's presence. Vulcan's, while logical, were notorious for speedily spreading news of interesting happenings. Leonard would have used the word "gossipers" to describe them if he ever found out. Pavel saved his work and looked up from his own PADD not wanting to miss the conversation.

"Indeed," Sarek responded. "Your reaction was unacceptable."

"Yet your actions towards us on Earth vere?" Pavel responded venomously.

"You did not help the situation," Sarek rebuked.

"So you say I should not defend my family? That we should not protect our family?" Spock challenged.

"That is not what I meant."

"Sounded like it," Pavel muttered.

"Did you never protect mother as I have protected Pavel?" Spock asked.

"Of course I did," Sarek responded heatedly.

"Then you understand why I did it."

"Vas zere something else you vanted to talk about?" Pavel asked in a way that could only be described as sassy.

The full blooded Vulcan seemed to fight with himself on whether or not to say something. In the end the man shook his head just the slightest bit and left them. It was obvious he wanted to say more, but was refusing to. Pavel wasn't sure if it was a cowardly decision or not, but he wasn't sure if he would willing to listen to anything else the old Vulcan had to say at this moment.

Suddenly, being on the planet wasn't very appealing.

In a matter of minutes the family plus pets were back aboard the Starfleet Enterprise. Scotty had raised a questioning eyebrow at them, but let them be when Pavel shook his head. Once the twins were in their bed with their still unnamed sehlats curled around them, the two parents found themselves back in their bedroom.

Instead of a Vulcan kiss like he expected, Pavel found himself enveloped in Spock's arms. The secure and happy feeling that had carried him through the day since the incident with Stron seemed to blossom and consume him in that moment.

"Spock?" He lifted his head enough to get a good look at the man.

"I did not ask earlier, but are you well?" the half-Vulcan asked.

"I am vell." The blonde smiled up at him, "I am happy you stood up for us."

He connected their lips in a human kiss. The bond they shared pulsed and sang as the kiss continued, causing a rush of pleasure. Spock pulled him closer, a groan coming from deep within his chest that Pavel responded with a small moan. They pulled apart, both breathing heavily as if they had just been running for their lives. Gently, one of Spock's hands cradled the side of the human's face.

"Pavel, if we do not stop now I will not be able to control myself," the taller man whispered.

Smiling, the younger of the two placed little kisses on Spock's neck. "It is fine. I vant to," he whispered back. With all they had been through, with everything Spock had done to prove himself, Pavel finally felt he could take the next step.

With an almost feral growl Spock kissed him again, keeping them close together as he made his way to the bed. Placing Pavel on the soft sheets of their bed, Spock started a very slow and focused exploration of the smaller male's body. He started with the neck using soft kisses and gentle nips. Hands slowly mapped their way around the small chest of his mate, taking special care to brush over nipples hidden beneath the thin cotton material of the shirt. Pavel squirmed under the touches, retaliating with combing his fingers through thick black hair and tracing those pointed ears. That was rewarded with a groan that was answered by one of his own when Spock pinched his nipples and drew him back into a kiss.

It felt so good to finally not be afraid of this sort of thing anymore. To be able to enjoy kisses and sensual touches after so long without it, so long being afraid of it, was amazing. And that wait did absolutely nothing for his self control. With a whine he tugged Spock's shirt, pulling it loose from black regulation pants. Spock chuckled at him, actually chuckled, and continued torturing the small blonde.

"Spock," he growled in frustration, pulling the blue shirt again trying to make his point clear.

"Yes?" He was grinning at him; Pavel could hear it in his voice.

"Take off ze shirt," the blonde growled. "Get rid of all ze clothes."

Spock kissed him soundly before pulling back. He pulled off his shirt and threw it across the room. "All in good time, have patience Pavel," he said softly while helping Pavel take off his shirt.

"Patience is ower rated," Pavel retorted and nipped at Spock's collarbone, his hands gliding over muscles covered in thick body hair. He had no clue where the rumors of Spock being hairless started, but he had always known they were false.

"Your accent is returning," Spock commented. Momentarily the smaller male couldn't respond from the pleasure of skin to skin contact.

"Vhatewer. Does not matter." Why was Spock taking so long? "Spock, I vant more," he groaned.

"Patience," he murmured.

Then the hands returned to caress the small body, paying special attention to the spots that garnered the loudest responses. Pavel tried to reciprocate; he didn't want to seem as inexperienced as he truly was. His hands shook with nervous anticipation as they glided over strong muscles. A warm hand finally, finally, lightly touched the blonde's erection drawing out a frustrated and desperate moan. Torture; that was what Spock was doing. If he didn't stop soon then Pavel would be finishing before any of the real action started. A little more pressure was applied and lithe hips started moving to gain more friction. He didn't want to cum now, but he was so close that he—

"Hey guys, why won't you—Oh God!"

The voice of none other than Jim Kirk nearly echoed off the walls. Spock whipped around and snarled at the Captain's back, clearly annoyed with the interruption. For his part, Pavel will forever be embarrassed that he squeaked while pulling a blanket over his lap to hide his erection.

"I'm so sorry guys. You weren't answering anybody and—" Spock growled at him again. "I'll see you guys later!" he squealed and ran away.

Pavel fidgeted on the bed as Spock relocked the door. Even with the interruption he was still hard and it was starting to feel uncomfortable. He stood from the bed and was about to go to the bathroom, which was thankfully closed so the twins heard nothing, when he was pulled back to the bed and into Spock's lap, the blanket being tosses to the side.

"S-Spock?" he asked looking up at man. A gasp escaped his lips and his back arched as a hand enclosed around his member and started pumping. The hand moved fast and hot breath ghosted over his neck making him squirm. He could feel Spock's answering hard on pressed against him and he suddenly felt the need to not be the only one getting pleasure. Pushing the hand away with great effort and turned around in Spock's lap. Spock seemed to understand what he wanted and took a firm hold of his hips.

On second thought, Spock was just a tease!

Instead of taking off both their pants, or even just taking both of their members out, he ground their hips together. The friction was unbearable!

"S-Spock, I-I vant—" he gasped, wrapping his arms around Spock's neck as he got closer to the end.

"I know, but not yet," the half-Vulcan huffed back and kissed him.

Unable to hold on any longer, Pavel moaned into the kiss as he came. Spock continued to rub against him as he drifted in euphoria until he too came with a groan.

At that moment, their bond snapped into place causing Pavel to gasp. There were so many feelings, so many vague thoughts. He didn't get time to contemplate it as Spock placed him on the bed. He went to the bathroom and came out with a wet hand towel in a pair of sleep pants. Blushing a bright red Pavel took off his dirty clothes and reached for the cloth only for Spock to clear the mess for him, making his blush worse. Then Spock placed the cloth in a corner to deal with later, very unlike him and it made Pavel itch to put it in the laundry chute. He climbed into the bed and pulled the smaller male to him. Pavel wished he could have stayed awake longer, but the dark abyss of sleep claimed him much sooner than he wanted.


	52. Chapter 51

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 51_

Slowly, the world seemed to melt into place. First came to sound of faint humming which was normal for being on board a starship. Then came the feeling of soft blankets that could possibly be the softest things in existence. Blinking, Pavel let his eyes adjust to the low lighting of the warm room. Sleep still teased at the edges of his consciousness, but there was a buzz of activity just behind the fog of sleepiness. With a groan of mock resistance the blonde sat up in bed with great effort.

Sitting at the desk in the corner of the room was Spock, obviously absorbed in his work. Yawning, Pavel went to the bathroom where he discovered Spock had dressed him in a pair of sleep pants while he had been asleep; then briefly went to check on the twins. While it was still considered night on the Enterprise, the twins were still prone to nightmares. More Vitaliy than Lyusya, but regardless of who had the dream they would both wake up in distress. Glancing at the bed, the Russian sighed in relief. Both children were cuddled together with their new sehlats making a ring of fur around them. Stealthily, he found his PADD and took a picture. That one was going into the photo album.

Stifling another yawn, the young man trudged back to his and Spock's room. Since they were still on leave he made his way back to the bed and fell face first onto it with a groan of bliss.

"Are you well?" Spock asked from the desk.

"Tired," the younger of the two muttered into the mattress. "And zere is buzzing in my head. I must get used to it again."

"A buzzing?" The Vulcan raised an eyebrow in question.

"Da, buzzing. Like flutter of vings in back of mind. Is vhat bond is like vhen vhole. I vill get used to it again."

Pavel nuzzled the sheets not wanting to move. He wanted sleep, but the buzzing of the bond made it difficult to drift off again. Feeling the bed dip next to his hip, he turned his head just enough to see Spock crawling over him. The Vulcan leaned down and placed little kisses on the back of his neck. Hands started to knead at sore back muscles in an attempt to relax them. A small moan of bliss escaped the blonde's throat as the confident and capable hands soothed his minor discomfort.

"Had I realized you were that aware of the bond I would have made an effort to minimize the effects to you," Spock murmured against skin, sending a rush a heat through the young body beneath him, reminding the other just how little he wore.

"If you do zat zen I von't feel you zere," Pavel whined at him. "I like knoving you are zere."

"Then I will not hide from you," the older man reassured.

Just as Pavel was about to roll over and demand Spock take care of the stiffness he had caused, there a tell-tale beeping came from the door. Groaning in disappointment, Pavel shooed Spock away from him. With a disgruntled look the Vulcan left his mate on the bed and marched to the door. Clicking it unlocked he let the metal door slide open to reveal a frustrated looking Leonard and a rapidly turning red Jim.

"Yes?"

"Don't give me that attitude, Hobgoblin. I told you that I wanted to check on the twins after you were done on the planet to see how they reacted to the different environment," the doctor snarled. "And next time you don't want to be disturbed put a message on your damn communication lines so people know. I don't want to deal with Jim screaming about you wanting him dead. Again."

With that Leonard let himself into the room and marched through the bathroom towards the twins.

"Careful of the sehlats!" Pavel called from his position on the bed.

"So," Jim started "Do you still want to kill me?"

"Negative, Jim. I do not desire to end your life."

Pavel smirked into the mattress as he felt the distinct feeling of Spock wanting to maim the Captain. Well, he did say he wouldn't kill the man.

"Good, good." The other blonde scratched at the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "And I am sorry for last night. Had I known I would have run interference for you guys. It was just concerning since neither of you were responding and Bones was getting antsy. I—"

"Jim, you are rambling," Spock gently interrupted. Pavel had the hardest time trying not to laugh as he felt the amusement coming from the other. From the links he shared with the twins he could feel that they were awake now, though extremely groggy. Jim snapped his mouth shut before sending his First Officer yet another sheepish grin.

"Right, no need to fear an early demise," he chuckled. "But seriously Spock, if you ever want alone time again just let me know. One quick message and I'll make sure you're not disturbed."

"Thank you, Jim."

At that moment Leonard came back into the room sporting a heavy frown and Vitaliy's sehlat trying to destroy his left pant leg.

"Spock, control the beasts. They won't let me near the Royal Twins and this one keeps trying to murder my leg," he deadpanned.

Sitting up, and thankfully no longer hard, Pavel took in the sight and laughed at the poor man's misfortune. The little monster was tugging on the pant leg and looking up at the older man with big eyes simply begging to be played with.

"Zat is vhat you get for vaking up babies, Leonard," he laughed.

"Laugh it up, Kid. I know for a fact your physical is coming up soon." The doctor smirked knowing that threat only really worked on Jim, but it was still amusing to use it on other people.

With amusement radiating down the bond on both ends, Spock turned from Jim and went to help the man by distracting the Vulcan pets. Jim entered the warm room chuckling as the little beast trotted after the men into the other room.

"So are we good?" he asked the younger of the two blondes.

Pavel tilted his head to the side ever so slightly and smirked at the other.

"Ve vill be if you don't hack ze door again. Or valk in on us," he teased, enjoying the rosy tint coming back to the man's cheeks.

"Right," Jim weakly chuckled. Not one of his best moments. "So," Pavel raised an eyebrow at the other man, "sex with Spock, eh?"

And there was the embarrassing teasing the Jim was prone to doing. Pavel wondered how long it would take for the man to forget what he saw as he tried to avoid answering the very personal questions.


	53. Chapter 52

**Author's Note: ** Sorry for the late update.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 52_

Pavel nearly had a heart attack a few days later when Spock told him that a highly respected priestess was demanding an audience with him. T'Pau had apparently demanded, in a very Vulcan way, that she needed to speak with Spock. Not wanting to cause a scene on bridge, Spock agreed and arranged for them to meet in a conference room on the Enterprise. She has voiced her displeasure of the location, but Spock remained firm in wanting to be close to his family.

They had been in that conference room for most of the day now and Pavel was starting to worry. For all he knew neither Vulcan had eaten anything since they started talking. Sighing, the blonde placed the last cover on the food that he had set on the table they had moved into the twins' room. Political repercussions or not, Spock would be eating with them! Even if he had to invite T'Pau to dinner to accomplish it!

"Mama, are ve going to get Papa now?" Lysuya asked while tugging on his pant leg.

"Yes, ve are going to get your Papa. Go get your brother and your sehlats." He patted her on the head.

"Vitaliy! Ve are going to get Papa! Kotehok and Eshikh are coming too!" the little girl yelled to her brother.

"Lyusya, inside voice," Pavel scolded as the two recently named sehlats can charging in from the other room, followed by Vitaliy who was rubbing at his right eye. "You know Vitaliy vas trying to meditate."

"Sorry," she told her brother.

"Is fine. Meditation is hard vithout Papa helping," Vitaliy stopped for a moment to yawn behind his hand. "I fell asleep."

Pavel chuckled at the two. They were so different yet so similar. Kotehok, Lyusya's large sehlat cub, nudged her playfully. She smiled at it, rubbing the top of its head and ruffling its fur. Vitaliy picked up his tiny whining sehlat which he had named Eshikh and nuzzled the cub. The Russian would never understand why they both picked such simple words for names, but at least the beasts had names now. Although, one name was Vulcan and the other was in Russian.

"Come, ve must make sure Papa eats dinner."

Smiling, Pavel led the way to the conference room that had held Spock captive for the last several hours. Lyusya walked ahead of the group, Kotehok happily pacing at her side as an ever present bodyguard. Vitaliy held onto his mother's hand with his Eshikh scampering to keep up on the little boy's other side. By this point Pavel had become rather accustomed to ignoring the gossip around his family as they traveled through the halls. There were only so many times he can stand hearing others coo at the twins before he wanted to punch something. Yes the two are cute, but there are other things to talk about.

Sighing at the sight of a security officer standing next to the door Pavel knew for a fact that the two Vulcans were still in there.

"You can't go in there," the young man, but still older than Pavel, informed him as he approached the door.

"Vell has Spock or T'Pau eaten anything in zere? I know zere is no replicator in zat room." The officer gave him a dirty look that answered his question rather nicely. "Zen I am going in zere to tell zem to come eat."

Brushing past the glaring man, the blonde opened the door and nearly staggered at the shear amount of silent animosity in the room. Spock and T'Pau sat across from each other in thick silence. Judging from the looks on both of their faces, they had been at a standstill for a while now. So that explained why Spock's side of the bond had been strangely silent. Even though neither moved, Pavel could tell their attention had shifted to him.

"So you are still here," he commented idly.

Lyusya bounded into the room with Kotehok at her side. She took hold of Spock's sleeve and tugged on it.

"Papa, it is dinner time and you have been gone all day," she complained in a slightly whiny voice.

"Lyusya, no whining," Spock lightly reprimanded. Though she did not verbally respond, the little girl did duck her head. The saying "actions speak louder than words" is completely true when it came to Lyusya.

Regardless of where they had apparently left off in their discussion, Spock stood from his seat ready to depart.

"You are velcome to join us as vell, Preistess T'Pau," Pavel offered while Spock gave Kotehok a pet on the head. "I am sure you vould like something after spending so much time in here."

After dealing with Spock for so long, Pavel had learned that most Vulcans could be swayed based on their need to be polite and logical. He had her cornered and she knew it.

"Very well."

Thus the crew of the Enterprise finally had something else to talk about other than how cute the Chekov twins were. After all, it wasn't everyday that one saw the family of four invite another Vulcan into their rooms, let alone an influential one.

When Spock paused for the briefest of moments at seeing the food, once it was all uncovered, Pavel felt pride well up inside of him. He had tried to make a few of the simpler Vulcan dishes that Spock had admitted to liking. The owners at the food shops had been extremely helpful, though the young man had a feeling that he may have been overcharged, but it was worth it to see that sparkle of surprise and love in his Vulcan's eyes. Taking a chance to glance at T'Pau he was surprised to notice that she seemed a little impressed.

"Pavel, you did not have to," Spock murmured as he settled his impatient daughter into her chair.

"I vanted to," Pavel laughed while he let Vitaliy climb into his chair and directed T'Pau to hers.

The entire affair was relatively silent. There was the usual mindless chatter from the twins. Scolding the two for trying to give food they didn't like to their sehlats who were sitting under the table. Spock even gave him a smile when he tried the Vulcan dishes. There was even a moment where Pavel caught T'Pau taking extra servings of those same dishes. It seemed like almost no time had passed, but eventually the meal did end.

The twins went off to do their studies while Pavel started putting the leftovers into storable containers that he then placed in the small mini fridge in their room. They had toddlers so having leftovers around was always a good idea.

Although Pavel had told the twins it was rude to listen in on other peoples' conversations, he couldn't help overhearing T'Pau as Spock escorted her out of their rooms towards the teleporters.

"Acceptable."

Whatever she was talking about, Pavel hoped it was about his family.


	54. Chapter 53

**Author's Note:** So I didn't quite get this out on Saturday like a promised, but hey, at least I did it instead of dropping off the face to the Earth. Here's your chapter, enjoy.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 53_

"Mama, vhy do ze other children make fun of us?" Vitaliy asked while they were sitting on a park bench with Eshikh lying underneath it.

"Vhat?" Pavel blinked in surprise. He looked at a suspicious group of children not too far from them talking to Lyusya. "Are other children being mean to you and your sister?"

"Mama!" Lyusya came storming over with Kotehok slinking behind her. "Zose boys vere mean!"

"Vhat did zey say, Princcess?" Pavel picked her up and hugged her as soon as she was near. While she didn't emote as much as her brother, she seemed to need more reassurance than him.

"Zey said really mean zings about you and Papa!" she whined. "I zink zey vanted me to attack zem. Vhy vould zey vant zat, Mama?"

Pavel sighed. This was why he didn't want to be down here without Spock. No one dared to do insult their family while he was around, especially after the Stron incident. "Zey zink zat because you are part human zat zey are better zan you. I am proud you did not fight zem. Zat means you are more mature zen zem."

The little girl nodded her head while Vitaliy touched her arm. The two of them had thankfully learned to control their urges for physical conflict from him. At least Spock couldn't corrupt them out of that. Once they learned a trait that got praise they never gave it up.

"It is still not nice," Vitaliy said as he petted his sister's arm. "It just does not seem logical to bully someone you hardly know."

Pavel hummed in response. It was the only thing he could do to stop himself from chuckling at the group of boys who were now Vulcan Glaring at them. His little prince apparently picked up his ability to cut with words. He would have to watch that or his little boy would get hurt by doing that.

Just then a shadow fell over them and Pavel looked up, tensing when he realized who was standing over them.

"Fascinating," said the same ambassador that had caused trouble on the Enterprise before he had left. "I had my doubts that the human who verbally attacked Stron was the same human mated to Spock."

"I see. Is zere a reason you decided to speak to me vhen it is obvious you do not like me?" Pavel questioned. Figures that on the last day of leave he would run into trouble without Spock to help.

"I merely wanted to see for myself." His tone was not one Pavel approved of. Then he said something in Vulcan. He didn't understand much, but he did pick out the insult and that the twins had gone rigid in their seats.

He stood, setting Lyusya on the ground before taking each child's hands. "I vill not stay here are be insulted by ze likes of you," he snapped. Then he was storming away towards the area where Spock had headed earlier. His Vulcan had been unable to avoid his father and had been forced to interact with the man at his childhood home.

He didn't make it very far down the street before he saw Spock stomping towards them. They called for a beam up and returned to the ship in quite the foul mood. The twins ran off with their sehlats announcing that they would go play with Jim. Together the parents walked towards the observation deck in aggravated silence, a distinct buzz of displeasure pulsing over the bond from both sides.

They stood facing the stars, thankful that the planet wasn't in view of the deck right now. Spock gently grazed a finger over Pavel's hand and let it twine with one of Pavel's fingers. Warmth filled the bond and the younger man moved closer so he could lean on the taller man.

"I take it you father still has not changed his mind?" the blonde asked softly.

"Unfortunately. However, with the approval of T'Pau he has no way to sway the counsel to his side. She will refuse to break our bond if the option was presented," Spock sighed, fully linking their hands. "What upset you?"

"Remember ze ambassador ze Enterprise escorted years ago? Ze one you did not like?" Spock nodded and squeezed the other's hand. "I saw him. He insulted me. Ze twins vere already upset over ze other children bullying zem."

Spock tugged the smaller male into a hug, burying his face into blonde locks. He pets the grey shirt covered back and holds on tighter as if to apologize for not being there.

"Spock, I am vorried about ze twins? Zey only play vith adults and ze only children zey have played vith are back on Earth." Pavel tilted his face up to look at his Vulcan. Though he guessed he could consider the other his husband now. "I do not vant zem to become socially awkward because I vanted to be in space."

Spock kissed his lips with just enough pressure to seem reassuring. "That will not happen. Our children will grow to be well rounded individuals. There is no need to worry about their growth."

Even with the reassuring kisses, Pavel still worried. The twins needed to interact with other children close to their age, or at least at their skill level. While playing with adults was fine, especially since Jim acted a lot like a kid, but they needed to learn how to interact with children. Other children will view them differently because they weren't fully human or Vulcan and the twins' intellect would scare and upset other too. They needed to learn how to deal with that like he and Spock did. He wanted to discuss this more, to figure out if he should return to Earth with the kids so they could live a relatively normal childhood.

Then Spock kissed him again with more passion than the last one. His mind became fuzzy and for right now he let himself be swept away in the feelings flooding his heart. They broke for air and Pavel shakily commanded them to their room. Together they hurried for their private place where Pavel hoped he would get more than a make out and a hand job. Knowing Spock though, that was all he was going to get.


	55. Chapter 54

**Author's Note:** I almost made it to the deadline, only over by a few minutes. Anyway, updates are back on track again. The next one will be in two weeks. Conveniently, the dates for updating skip over my finals week so I don't have to worry about the two clashing. Now leave you to the story.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 54_

"So, vere is Spock anyway?" Pavel asked Leonard as he leaned against the man's office door.

The Enterprise was back on duty again with another mission that took almost half a year to travel to. This time around it was a diplomatic meeting to facilitate a treaty with a new planet that wanted to join in intergalactic trade. Pavel honestly couldn't remember much about the planet from the report he had been given. The inhabitants were humanoid and spoke in broken Standard making translators necessary for in-depth conversations; meaning Uhura as she had finally passed her remedial computer classes and had been studying the new language obsessively. The terrain was reported to be a dense jungle, the inhabitants living in some of the less dense portions. Honestly, Pavel was happy to stay on the Enterprise until he heard that some rare ingredients he needed for some new recipes he wanted to try naturally grew on the planet. Then he had begged Jim to give him permission. All the young blonde had to do now was find Spock and he could go.

"I thought you were his keeper," the doctor snapped back sassily. He glanced up to see the unimpressed look on the younger man's face and chuckled. "Last I heard he was on planet."

"Still? He has been down zere since zis morning. He promised to come back after ze mid-day meal he vas invited to and he never came back." Leonard watched as the young man's expression turned worried as he looked off towards the twins and Christine.

"Well you got permission to go down right?" The blonde turned his attention back to the older man and nodded. Leonard stood and stretched, a playful smile tugging at his lips. "Well then, I'll go down with you. I need to get some of those foods to see what the infant could be allergic to. I swear if he turns out to be allergic to water I would not be surprised!"

Laughing together, they left Medbay and the twins in the capable hands of Christine. At the transporter room Scotty was tinkering with some small contraption. It was unusual for the head engineer to be running the transporters, but apparently today was one of the days the man felt the need to be out of the engine rooms. The Scotsman confirmed that Spock was still on planet. Sighing, Pavel shook his head at the actions of his husband.

Once they materialized on the surface of the planet, Pavel was glad his long clothing was lightweight. While he wanted to protect himself from the natural dangers of a jungle environment, the humidity would have been the death of him if he had dressed too warmly. The designated transporter area was apparently placed on the edge of a market so the two Earth born humans were greeted to the sight of several dozen inhabitants gawking at them. They were tall with a dark blue skin tone that looked almost black in certain lighting. Leonard muttered something about jungle giants and Pavel just laughed at the other man's obvious discomfort. Leonard, however, was more concerned over the fact that most of the looks they garnered as they left the transporter pads and wandered the market were directed at Pavel. The younger man was an oddity to the jungle dwellers. He was small, blonde, blue eyed, and had a fading tan. The only other human that was similar that they could have seen was Jim, and that man was nowhere near as tiny looking as Pavel was.

"Leonard, vhat do you zink of zis one? Vill it be enough for ze sweet sauce or vill I need two?" Pavel's sudden question brought his attention back to the blonde who was now holding a neon purple, pear shaped fruit that was about the size of his head.

"I'd say two. No telling how big the pit or core will be. Plus and extra can be used for testing."

The beaming smile the blonde sent him was sweet, except it also gained him a few more predatory looks from the natives. Damn it, he was a doctor, not a bodyguard! Where the hell was the hobgoblin when he needed him?

As he paid for his purchases, Pavel felt a large surge of annoyance come over the bond from Spock's side. Normally Spock and his emotions would be muted as the Vulcan did not feel comfortable with letting someone know just how much he actually felt. He did give Pavel at least some idea though, since it made Pavel feel better. That being said, the surge of emotions caused Pavel to stand up straight from where he had been looking at some interesting vegetables and look in the direction he felt Spock in. He passed his felt bag full of food to Leonard and waded through the crowd, not noticing that several natives had seen his curious actions and were following him as well as the doctor.

The bond led him down a few roads from where he had left Leonard, who he was pretty sure was following him. There was Spock, arms crossed defensively over his chest, speaking in a cold tone to a tall native woman. The irritation rose as she stepped closer to him and attempted to touch his hair only for Spock to move out of her reach. Fury shot through Pavel as she tried again to touch the thick black hair on the Vulcan's head. He didn't know how he knew, but that woman was flirting with his Spock and wasn't taking the obvious hint to leave him alone. He marched over to the two, barely noticing that Spock had marginally winced at feeling his anger. Grabbing hold of the taller man's arm, he tugged him away from the woman while glaring up at her shocked green eyes.

"He is not interested," the blonde snarled up at her.

Spock shifted behind him, resting a soft hand between his shoulder blades. A crowd was forming, intrigued by the tiny, hostile human.

"You know 'hat he 'ants?" the woman asked in a heavily accented voice with her own glare.

"Yes I do." Pavel searched for the easiest way to define his relationship with Spock. "He is my mate."

A murmur broke out among the crowd and Spock shifted uneasily behind him. The woman reared back as if struck. She visibly gathered her thoughts to combat him for Spock's attention, which she would never receive.

"Prove."

Prove they were mates? How would he do that? Spock had a hold of his arm now, trying to gently pull him away from the confrontation. No, Spock was his and he needed to make that clear to everyone!

Whipping around, the small blonde took a hold of the Commander's regulation blue shirt collar with both hands and yanked him down into a fierce and angry kiss. Spock almost put up a fight before he surged forward taking control of the kiss. Small hands released the shirt and wrapped around the taller man's neck as strong arms curled around his waist. It seemed like forever, but the kiss ended in a matter of seconds.

Breathing heavily, Pavel turned back to the stunned woman. "My mate."

The woman put her hands up in surrender and left without another word. Many of the crowd around them made appreciative noises at the couple's public display as they too dispersed. Spock rested his forehead against Pavel's and smiled softly at him. Suddenly the blonde was taken over by a wave of uncertainty.

"I did not just cause a var did I?" he asked in a panicked whisper.

Spock chuckled at him and kissed his forehead. "No. If you had paid more attention to the report you would know that you did nothing wrong. The Pletay'kt are a race that encourage public displays of affection. By publicly claiming we are mates, you have made it so we will not be harassed again."

It took a moment before Pavel picked up on the hidden meaning in his husband's words. "You mean the reason you have not gone back to ze ship is because you vere being stalked by potential suitors?" he asked in shock.

All he got in response was another kiss to the forehead before the Commander turned and started speaking with Leonard.

Oh, that sneaky Vulcan was not going to get away with not answering! He couldn't wait to get his husband alone so he could coax the answers out of him.


	56. Chapter 55

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 55_

"So," Jim drawled as he leaned against Pavel's station at the beginning of their shift the next day. The two had reported in early so they could have a private conversation that jim insisted upon. "I heard from a little birdie that you got Spock into PDA."

"Into vhat?" the Russian asked with scrunched brows.

"Public displays of affection," the other grinned at his sitting comrade.

"So?" Pavel couldn't hide the smile that grew on his lips.

"So I'd like to know if that had anything to do with both of you mysteriously disappearing last night."

"I have no idea vhat you are talking about."

"Bullshit," Jim laughed at the sassy look on the younger man's face. "You guys totally did something and I wanna know what it was."

"I never knew you vere into zat sort of zing, Keptin. Is zere a certain someone you vould like to do ze same vith?" The older of the two blinked in a stunned manner.

"Wait, what? No, there isn't—I –No!" the other stammered.

Turned his chair to face Jim and he leaned back. "Really? Ze nurses say differently. I believe zey are all dying to know how you will seduce Mr.—"

"Shh!" Jim put a hand over the young parent's mouth, his face a deep shade of red. Glancing around to make sure they truly were alone, the other lifted his hand from the amused smile. "I get it, okay? Just don't tell him."

The lift doors opened to allow Spock and Mr. Sulu on the bridge. "Of course, Keptin." Smiling at the two new comers, Pavel turned back to his station ready for travel.

"What were you two talking about?" Sulu asked as he sat down at his station.

"Just some recipes I have been experimenting vith. Ze keptin vanted to try one." Feeling amusement race down the bond he knew that Spock was detecting his lie. Oh, there was no way he was going to talk about the real conversation, but cooking was always a great cover story.

"Really? What's the next thing you're going to make?" The two continued to discuss their different cooking experiments and substitute ingredients until the rest of the bridge crew came in.

"Alright everyone!" Jim called for attention once everyone was at their assigned position. "Our next mission is another meet and greet with an allied planet. Information will be sent out later. We're going to affirm peaceful relations and all that, so no pissing off these people. They're quick to anger."

Judging by the look on Jim's face he really meant what he was saying. If Captain Kirk got that look on his face then you had to take him seriously. He made eye contact with every member on bridge before nodding to Sulu.

"Mr. Chekov, Mr. Sulu, set course and get us moving."

Turning back to his console, Pavel went through the motions of setting coordinates and preparing for flight. He nearly laughed when Sulu triple checked that the brake was off. He was so paranoid after that first flight all those years ago that the poor man triple checked before every move.

Then they were off, flying through space at a speed that would have killed them in any ship of lesser quality. He ignored Jim's announcement to the crew of the ship and instead reminisced over the night before.

* * *

_Finally, after hours of waiting which included dinner and putting the twins to bed, Pavel had Spock alone. He came out of the bathroom after his nightly routine only to be greeted to the sight of Spock sitting at his desk working away on something. Annoyance bloomed in his chest, urging him to correct his mate's assumption. With a huff the small blonde crossed the room to the Vulcan. Sighing, the younger of the two wrapped his arms around Spock's shoulders and pressed his robe covered body as close as possible to the other man's back. He nuzzled the vulnerable neck before him as if he was a cat begging for attention._

_He felt Spock shiver just the slightest bit and pause in his work. Smirking inside his mind, Pavel proceeded as he planned. He brushed his lips against the soft green tinted skin as if he could rub the very taste of Spock permanently onto his lips. A small hitched inhale was his well earned reward. This continued for a while where Spock tried to valiantly complete whatever he had been working on. So the impish blonde decided to take it up a notch._

_He licked the exposed neck before him in on long stroke before nipping lightly on the slightly flushed skin. The stylus dropped to the desk surface and rolled onto the floor while the PADD was dropped onto the desk with a clatter. A strangled moan escaped the older man as Pavel continue to nip at the sensitive skin._

_"I do not like being ignored," he whispered into the other's ear right before swiping his tongue across the tip quickly._

_A loud groan came from the sitting Vulcan who was gripping the desk in a manner to which the furniture creaked in protest. "I did not intend to do so."_

_"Hmm." Pavel let one of his hands drift down the collar of the regulation shirt to comb through the thick chest hair. "I also do not like it vhen you purposefully make me jealous."_

_"I did no—" The older man cut himself off with a gasp as Pavel nipped harder on his neck, right under and behind the ear._

_"Do not lie. Ze only reason I knew vhat vas happening vas because you got angry. It did not feel like real anger zough. Like you vanted it to be real, but you still vere not happy about ze situation. So tell me, Spock," he leaned in close to the left ear, "Vhy did you ignore your family just to make me jealous?"_

_Pavel stopped tormenting the man and held still as he waited for a response. When none came he pulled his hand out of Spock's shirt, scratching on the way up. The shiver and strangled moan were very satisfying, but Pavel wanted answers. So with one last lustful lick to the neck, he separated from his mate and went for the bed. He heard a growl from the other which made him chuckle. Spock wasn't the only one that knew how to tease._

_Climbing onto the bed, Pavel pulled back the covers and shed his robe all with his back facing the Vulcan. He heard a sharp intake of air that caused a burning within his very core. He laid under the blankets and turned off the bedroom lights, plunging them both into darkness. Mentally he counted backwards from ten as he waited. He made it to four when he felt the bed dip on the other side. Warm arms wrapped around his bare waist and pulled him back against the equally bare body of his mate._

_Apparently Spock had removed his clothes already._

_Pavel could feel the stiffness that was Spock's member lay against his thigh due to their height difference. Spock buried his nose into his blonde hair and inhaled deeply, a rumbling coming from his chest which resembled a purr from a content cat._

_"Answer my question, Spock," the smaller one demanded in a low whisper._

_"I wanted to see how you would react. How I would react. To know that it would not be like the last time we were in a similar situation."_

_The response stunned him. Spock had been testing them both to see if it would end like before. Turning over, Pavel kissed the Vulcan fiercely. Their breath grew ragged as they both tried to consume the other's very soul using only their mouths. Pulling away, Pavel panted as he looked the other man in the eyes._

_"You said before zat ve vould make zis vork. Do not vorry, ve are better zan zat time and ve vill make zis last," he soothed._

_They kissed again, desperately so. A hand drifted down his side and gripped onto his backside causing him to buck and moan. This was more intense than the last time they had been intimate. It was as if something had fallen into place and made the entire experience more pleasurable. Questing fingers found his erection and wrapped firmly around it. He was so distracted by the wonderful feeling on his member being stroked that he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a cold, think liquid that was almost like a gel touch his entrance. It warmed just seconds after contact making him moan at the wonderful sensation._

_Finally they would have sex! After waiting so long and dealing with Spock being a tease, they were going to have sex! If he had known that teasing the other would lead to this he would have done it a lot sooner._

_A finger circled his entrance and Pavel shivered as very slight pressure was applied before it was taken away again._

_"S-spock. D-damn it, just do it," he growled, earning himself a lust filled growl._

_The finger pushed through the resistance and Pavel fell speechless. He had never done this himself and thus only remembered the times when Spock had done it to him. Oh, it felt so good! The finger began to move ever so slowly, driving the blonde insane. He wanted more, he—_

* * *

"Pavel!"

The young blonde blinked in surprise and looked over at Mr. Sulu who had called out to him.

"Yes?"

"You were spacing out. You almost fell asleep there," the man replied. "Didn't think you'd want to hit your head on the console."

"Ah, zank you." Not really. He interrupted a very wonderful memory. Besides, even if he hit his head, it would still pale in comparison to trying to stand and walk this morning.

He caught sight of Spock looking at him with lustful eyes. Oops. Well the man would just have to wait until night. Pavel was not going to miss spending time with their children just to have sex again.


	57. Chapter 56

**Author's Note:** I am so sorry for not posting when I said I would. This chapter gave me a lot of issues in terms of writing. My personal life also took a major shift in the last few days so I was dealing with that as well.

If it's not obvious from this chapter then I will state now that this series will be ending in the next two chapters. I understand that many people will not be happy with this, but to me the story is dragging and needs to be put to rest. This doesn't mean that I won't write some short stories at some point, but the main story will be finished.

I hope you enjoy this chapter which fought me tooth and nail to be written.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 56_

When they arrived at the new planet, Pavel was extremely thankful that he was told he wouldn't be allowed to go onto the planet surface, and by extension neither would the twins. The human ambassador to the planet had been picked up along the way would be going down and staying for the duration of the mission. The planet inhabitants were very family oriented so the man had also brought his family along. By being told to he wasn't going down meant Pavel wouldn't have to listen to the ambassador's children begging for the twins to join them.

Why was this so important?

Lyusya and Vitaliy had no idea how to interact with the two older human children.

They didn't understand what to do with other children. It was almost too painful to watch as the older children tried to include his twins in their games only for the two Vulcans to have no idea how to play the games. Pavel eventually got defensive over the fact that his children didn't know how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose". They had never shown an interest when they had seen other children play it and so he wasn't going to force them to play!

Then there were the movies and other general pop culture. The twins had no idea who certain characters were from television shows that were popular on Earth. Even before they left for space the two had not been interested in watching TV. The ambassador's wife even had the nerve to say that he was depriving the children of a childhood! How could that be true if his twins were smarter than her oldest that was at a second grade level!

Pavel smiled a fake smile as he waved the family goodbye at the transporters. Lyusya stood next to him waving with one hand while holding onto his pant leg with the other. Vitaliy stood on his other side in much the same manner. Though they appeared to being wishing the other children well, their faces were neutral and calm. Through the bond though, they were brimming with relief and joy over the departure. The two hadn't been amused with the games and stories. Everything was too simple for them.

"Bye-bye! We'll play again soon!" the youngest human child smiled.

"Ve vill see," Lyusya answered, but the bonds gave the impression that they would never meet again if the twins could help it.

Then the family was gone and there was a collective sigh of relief from the crew. The longer the twins were around those children the more aggravated the two quarter Vulcans got as both the children and their mother were determined to interrupt the twins' study time. Apparently the three couldn't differentiate between education and learning while playing. Learning Vulcan and playing a puzzle game were two completely different things. After having seen Spock in a rage the crew had no desire to see the twins become even remotely like that.

The twins bolted from the room after the second half of the landing team beamed away. They had their games and work books to dive into now that the frustrating children had left. As the rest of the crew left the room Pavel sent his Vulcan a deadpan look to which the older man nodded. They were going to have a very serious conversation and the blonde was not going to let it be pushed aside any longer.

Together the parents walked to their room knowing that the twins would have gotten their things by now and locked themselves in their own room. There was a heavy silence between the two that had wandering crewmembers avoiding the two with tight smiles and greetings. Spock himself felt a slight sense of unease as he could feel his mate's irritation and annoyance aimed towards him. He had a vague idea of the conversation they were about to have, and he was not looking forward to it.

Once behind their closed bedroom door with the bathroom door closed, Pavel turned towards the Vulcan in one frustrated movement.

"Do you see now vhy I vorried? Do you have any idea vhat zis could have done to zeir confidence if that family stayed any longer?" he demanded of the taller man.

"I do not see how we raise our children is of any concern to the ambassador and his family," Spock tried to placate only to wince at the anger coming over the bond.

"Vell zat voman zought she should be concerned! I vould not put it past her to have tried taking zem away from us!" Pavel started to pace in his agitation. "I told you, I told you zis vould happen! Zey do not interact vith others zeir age. Zey are unable to process ze vorld zrough other's eyes!"

"I do not see how this is a problem." Spock stood with his arms behind his back in his customary way.

"Exactly my point!" The younger man stamped his foot. "You see no problem, but I do! Zey cannot interact viz ozer children at all! Hov vill zey fit in vhen zey go to highschool? Or go to college? Or start a career? Hov can zey surwiwe vizout knoving hov to interact viz ozers less intelligent?" As he ranted, letting his frustration be verbally known, Pavel slipped back into his old heavily accented way of speaking.

For a moment Spock was truly stunned. He had seen how the twins reacted to children below their intelligence level, but he had felt proud that they wanted to learn instead of play simplistic and childish games. However, now he was seeing what his beautifully enraged mate had seen. It was true that the twins needed to learn how to interact with those not as smart as them. Their entire future relied on such a skill which couldn't be provided aboard the Enterprise. Yet that led to the decision that Spock didn't even want to consider.

His family needing to leave the Enterprise.

Spock wanted what was best for them, but he also didn't want to give up the career he worked so hard for. If he didn't leave with them then how would their life together work? How would he visit them? How would he protect them?

"I do not wish for you or them to leave," he spoke softly making Pavel pause.

Sighing, Pavel hugged his Vulcan; tucking his head under the other's chin as Spock wrapped him in a firm hug. "I do not expect you to give up your life here for us."

Just like that their slowly perfecting world seemed to shatter.


	58. Chapter 57

**Author's Note:** Sorry for not posting when I said I would. This chapter gave me a lot of issues in terms of writing.

I hope you enjoy this chapter which fought me tooth and nail to be written.

This story ends in the next chapter.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters.

* * *

_Chapter 57_

~~~Time skip of about two years~~~

Shutting the last piece of luggage into a compartment, Pavel mentally crossed out the last item on his list of things to pack. It had taken a while to plan and pack everything. He had never realized just how much was in the rooms that would need to leave with them. Granted there were only six medium sized suitcases, but that was still a lot for living on a space craft of any kind!

Through the entire process there was a rollercoaster of emotions that he had to navigate through. The twins would go through bouts of excitement, distain, and sadness at the situation; wanting to stay yet also wanting to go. Spock tried to be as helpful as he could, but it was common to find the Vulcan either sulking in the labs or clinging to his family in the most Vulcan way possible. As for Pavel himself, well, he went through phases. Sometimes he would be excited and other times sad. The Enterprise was his dream come true. Everything he could ever want for a career was on board this ship.

It wasn't his career he was thinking about right now though.

Stepping out of the now loaded shuttle, Pavel took a chance to look at the hustle and bustle happening around him. Engineers rushing towards their next job or medbay, science officers discussing new experiments, and other crewmembers going about their business. All so familiar, so welcome.

Now he was leaving it all behind.

"Are you sure you want to go? We can always accommodate you and the kids," Kirk asked as he came to stand next to the melancholy young man.

"Yes. Vhile being here is fun, it is not ideal for ze twins. Zey need to be around other children, go to school, and know nature. Zey can't get zat here," Pavel sighed, though he did give the older blonde a gentle smile

" I guess you're right, not much nature or kids onboard. Do you know what Spock's going to do?"

"He vill continue his career vith Starfleet. Zere is no reason for him to quit just because ze twins and I are leaving."

"Really, Pavel?" Jim raised an eyebrow. "Spock would do anything for you. Pretty sure he would leave Starfleet if you asked."

"I do not vant him to zough. He vorked hard for zis and should not give it up."

"You worked hard too."

The young parent gave the Captain the flat look that he used on the twins when they tried to get away with doing something they weren't supposed to. "Vhile zat may be true, I vant something else more. I vant my children to have ze best future ze can. I vill villingly give up my career vith Starfleet for zem."

They stood together, looking at each other in a companionable silence.

"Call if you need anything," Jim offered.

"And wisit vhen Earth-side," Pavel countered.

"Well aren't you two just chummy together." The blondes turned to find Leonard a few feet away from them. "So you got everything you need?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, I have everything." The Russian gave the older man a small smile.

"You take good care of the royal twins. Make sure to check in every once in a while, leave a message if you have to," the southern man instructed. "Call me if something happens to their health, I'll recommend you to a guy I'd trust."

The younger men chuckled at him. "You are rambling Leonard, but I vill do zat,' Pavel chuckled.

"Oh, can it you," Leonard huffed.

From around the corner came Spock holding the twins in his arms. The two had their small arms wrapped around his neck and heads buried into his shirt. Kotehok and Eshikh padded softly behind them looking just as upset as their owners. The sehlats were larger after all this time. Kotehok was close to being fully grown while Eshikh was about half the older beast's size. The large animals huffed as they slowly went into the shuttle with their ears back and tails drooped.

Spock whispered into the twins' ears in Vulcan. After spending years being taught the language, Pavel was able to understand what his Vulcan was saying.

"I am proud of you both. I shall always be with you through our bond. Take care of you mother for me," he whispered in his native tongue.

Pavel felt a lump grow in his throat while the children nodded and held onto their father tighter. The Enterprise First Officer set the two identically dressed children on their feet. They had grown quite a bit much like their pets. They were average Vulcan height for being six almost seven years old, their dark brown hair fell down to the middle of their backs in a single large braid, and the light green tint of their skin was more noticeable now. They were dressed in the clothes purchased for them at the last planet the ship had visited; a dark purple tunics with no sleeves that ended at the middle of their thighs, a pair of brown leggings, and light weight black slip-on shoes.

With unshed tears Lyusya and Vitaliy hugged their father again before hugging their favorite uncles. Then they entered the shuttle to ready themselves for the trip in all senses of the concept.

A shaky sigh escaped the unhappy young blonde and he smiled sadly at his other half. Spock gently enveloped the smaller male in a tender embrace that spoke more true than any words could. Tears gathered in Pavel's eyes as Spock carded a hand through his soft blonde hair and held him close.

"I treasure thy, Pavel," he whispered in Vulcan.

"I love you too, Spock," Pavel chocked out.

"I will try to visit and call as much as I can," Spock promised. "Be strong, for I will always be with you."

With a tiny sob the younger of the couple kissed the other with as much passion and promise as he could muster. His hands clenched the blue regulation shirt as Spock held him tighter as if to keep him from leaving.

Drifting slowly apart they stared at each other, words proving to be useless in this moment. Swallowing around the lump in his throat Pavel smoothed out the new wrinkles in the shirt like he always did while Spock petted his hair and rubbed his back through the light blue tunic he was wearing.

After sharing one last chaste kiss Pavel pulled away. He nodded to Jim and Leonard as he passed, too full of emotions to trust his voice any more. The door shut behind him as he entered the small personal shuttle. He took his place at the flight controls once he was sure that the twins were secure in their seats and that the sehlats were safe in their kennels. Taking in a deep breath Pavel started the craft and maneuvered it out and away from the Enterprise. Earth was only a few hours away as the Enterprise was close by as it traveled past the planet to reach its next destination. The twins were sniffling behind him and as much as he wanted to comfort them, Pavel have to pilot their shuttle and combat his own conflicted feelings.

He just had to tell himself that going back to Earth was for the best.


	59. Epilogue

**Author's Note:** This is the final chapter of _The Fine Line._ I want to thank you for reading and a special thanks to all those who gave me ideas. If you have a request for a side story, please leave a review or send a private message. I prefer a message as then I can properly thank people for ideas and then respond in a timely manner.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Star Trek characters. I do own the twins so please ask permission before using them.

* * *

_Epilogue_

It was a pleasant, sunny day with a few fluffy white clouds floating in the sky. Lyusya calmly walked down the street of her childhood after a tiring day of classes at her university. Her fatigue wasn't helped by the black kitten heels she wore, nor did the black slacks and dark purple button-up blouse she was wearing. A gentle breeze pushed the long bangs that framed her face into her eyes and she huffed at them in annoyance. Although the young woman loved her bangs and her long braided hair, she despised when it got in her face and she couldn't move it out of the way. Well it was her own fault for refusing to use a backpack for the day and also going shopping so both of her hands were full and unable to move the frustrating dark brown locks.

Finally she reached her home, a modest two floor apartment that was half of building. A style that was popular for small families sometime around the twenty-first century according to one of her history professors. With a bit of adjusting the eighteen year old, quarter Vulcan managed to open the front door without dropping any of her possessions.

The small entrance way was the same as always; a table for keys, a tray for shoes, and a row of hooks for jackets and hats. Turning from the door, Lyusya slid out of her heels and padded her way to the kitchen barefoot. Placing her purchases on the counter, she double checked once more that she had purchased all the necessary ingredients. From there the young woman placed her school books on the table, making a mental note to bring them up to the room she shared with Vitaliy later. Honestly they were so used to sharing that it never bothered them that they had to share a room. Though it was a little sad when Leonard moved out, but he took the apartment on the other side of the house so he was always nearby if one of them needed an escape from the family.

Going into the living room, Lyusya found her brother standing on a stool and raising one end of a banner to the temporary hook on the wall. Vitaliy was actually a little shorter than her, by mere centimeters really. His equally long hair was tied in a messy bun like he always did when he was working on a project. For once he wasn't wearing paint splattered clothing or a camera around his neck. Instead, he was wearing an exact copy for Lyusya's outfit, only with the sleeves of the shirt rolled up. A small strip of green tinted skin was revealed as Vitaliy's untucked shirt lifted while he reached up and hung the side of the banner he was holding.

"Do you require assistance?" Lyusya asked as his equally bare feet returned to the carpeted floor.

"Zat vould be wery velcome." Vitaliy turned and smiled at her, his brown eyes shining with barely restrained glee. "You can cook, yes?"

The young woman gave him a dark look. "Just because I study physics, does not mean zat I do not know how to cook."

"Da, you are a vorld class chef." He rolled his eyes at her before turning to hang up the other side of the banner.

Huffing, Lyusya gave the young man one last nasty look before going back to the kitchen. Gathering everything together she contemplated the recipes laid out in front of her on the table. When she said she could cook she meant really simple things. Mama had tried to teach her, but the physics student just couldn't get the flavors right. Sighing she was just about to ask Vitaliy if they could switch tasks when a knock on the door caught her attention. Eager to put off the inevitable, she raced to the door and opened it after checking to see who it was.

"Uncle Leonard!" She hugged him as soon as the door was open.

"Hey there, Princess. How's the party coming?" the doctor laughed as he hugged her back.

"Help me vith food," she seemed to demand, but Leonard knew her well enough to know that she was actually begging.

"I thought you'd need help. Gotta make sure you don't burn the place down, I still live in the building too you know." Taking off his shoes the aged man entered the apartment that used to be his and followed the girl to the kitchen. "How are the decorations and everything going, Prince?" he called as he passed the living room door.

"Vhy did ve need streamers?" the young man whined. Leonard chuckled as he knew the paper decorations annoyed the boy. It seemed like every time there were streamers in the same room as him he would become covered in them like magic.

"Nostalgia," the southern man laughed as he rolled up his sleeves and started helping the pouting girl.

Not even ten minutes later there was another knock at the front door. Since Leonard and Lyusya couldn't extract themselves from the kitchen, Vitaliy answered with a streamer stubbornly stuck to the bottom of his right foot. He checked who it was, then opened the door wide.

"Uncle Jim, Uncle Hikaru!"

"Hey there, V!" Jim cheered and pulled the boy into a hug.

"You've got a streamer stuck to you," Hikaru laughed as he too received a hug.

Vitaliy pouted at them and tugged them into the apartment. "Uncle Leonard is helping Lyusya vith food. You help vith decorations."

The two men laughed and joined in the preparations.

* * *

Pavel covered his wide yawning mouth as he walked back home with Spock. It had been a tiring day, but a rewarding one. Today was one of the random days were Pavel had given a guest lecture at Starfleet. Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew were on planet for a while so the Vulcan had taken the opportunity to walk the blonde home.

Over the years Pavel had grown taller and filled out more to the point where he was only about four inches shorter than the Vulcan and had his own set of nicely developed muscles. After Pavel had left the Enterprise with the twins, life had been difficult. There was a long adjustment period where the twins threw their first tantrums a having to interact with less intelligent children. Pavel had returned to Brilliant Repairs and was promptly welcomed back with a big hug from the other workers. Within a few months Daniel had transferred all rights to the company to Pavel saying that the business would have gone under without the young man. He tried to protest, but the man wouldn't hear it. Now that he was the owner of a successful business, Pavel had little reason to worry about money with or without Spock's help.

Speaking of Spock, the man had thoroughly surprised Pavel by asking if he wanted to be married by human standards. For years they had been content with their Vulcan styled marriage, but in some places on Earth their union wasn't recognized because they didn't have a stupid piece of paper signed. So about a week ago the two had gone and gotten a marriage license, becoming a legal married couple in the eyes of Earth's governments.

"You did well today," Spock spoke to him as they ambled casually towards home.

"Zank you. How long is your leave?" Pavel asked in return.

"As the Enterprise is due for maintenance, and I have personal leave that I can spend, a few months at least."

"Ze twins vill be happy to hear zat. I'm happy to hear zat." He smiled at the other man.

They reached the door and Spock used his key to open the door. They took off their shoes and started towards the kitchen for dinner when movement in the living room caught their eyes.

"Surprise!" a decent amount of their friends and coworkers cheered along with the twins. "Congratulations!"

"Vhat?" Pavel nearly laughed hysterically in shock.

"The Royal Twins told us about the marriage license." Leonard chuckled.

The twins smiled at their parents, proud that they had finally surprised the two after years of failed attempts.

"And Lyusya didn't cause a fire in the kitchen either," Jim laughed as the young woman glared at him.

"One time. One time and no one vill let me forget it," she huffed much to the amusement of the party attendants.

"Zink of zis as your vedding reception," Vitaliy grinned.

Needless to say, Pavel thought his life was pretty much perfect.


End file.
